Very good coverage of the causes of the war and the people that took part. There are a number of primary sources that provide personal accounts of Union and Confederate troops and citizens, as well as free African-Americans. There is also mention of Confederate recruitment of Southern Native Americans and the regiments of free blacks that fought for the Union. The book covers the difficulties Americans faced in the war and how they had to grapple with the reality of those situations. I would recommend that it cover the effects of the war in the century and a half since and it be updated to allow for another twenty years of fresh perspectives. ( )