Contemporary historians and literary scholars continually expand the geographic, temporal, and thematic dimensions of the Civil War era. They analyse the war deeply and expansively, identifying subjects, themes, and topics that emerged decades before the secession crisis and lingered long after the last federal troops left the less-than-reconstructed South. In this wide-ranging volume, eminent historians John David Smith and Raymond Arsenault assemble a distinguished group of scholars to build on the growing body of work on the 'Long Civil War' and break new ground. They cover subjects including antebellum missionary activity and colonialism in Africa, the home front, the experiences of disabled veterans in the US Army Veteran Reserve Corps, and Dwight D. Eisenhower's personal struggles with the war's legacy amid the growing civil rights movement.