First published 1992
Bruce Levine examines the fundamental social transformations that led America toward civil war. He argues that the incomplete Revolution of 1776 set in motion changes that created two distinct societies within one nation. The South developed around slave labor while the North built its economy on free workers. Levine demonstrates how these opposing systems generated conflicts that ordinary Americans could understand and take sides on. The author shows that sectional differences grew so deep they could not be resolved within the existing political framework. His narrative reveals how popular support for war emerged from these irreconcilable social divisions. Levine connects everyday economic and social changes to the larger political crisis that tore the Union apart.
Genres: history, american-civil-war, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-perspective, social-divisions
Setting: America, North, South
Period: 1776, Civil War
312 pages · Paperback · Hill and Wang
Content warnings: slavery