Turning Points of the Civil War

Abstract

What the critics said about the first edition published in 1966: "[Rawley's] notion that other things than battles may constitute turning points is eminently sensible. So also is his contention that the outcome of a war is not ordained or determined by impersonal forces." - "Journal of Southern History". "An excellent discussion piece." - "American Historical Review". "Should find an audience in both undergraduate and graduate coursese dealing with the 'middle period.' It is carefully organized and...characterized by clear, straightforward writing." - Richard O. Curry, "Journal of American History".James A. Rawley examines the seven turning points of the Civil War: the course of the slaveholding borderland in 1861, First Bull Run, the Trent affair, Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and the presidential election of 1864. Among the topic unifying his book are slavery, democracy, British policy, military organization and progress, and the roles of Lincoln, McClellan, Davis, and Lee. The afterword looks at the Civil War itself as a turning point in American history. In a preface to this Bison Book edition, James A.Rawley, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, considers recent books that sustain the idea of turning points during the Civil War.