Study of the Confederate Congress and its relation to the Davis administration and the war effort.

The Confederate cent is not your average story coin. Learn the fascinating story of why Southern leaders ordered their one-cent piece from a northern die sinker at the outbreak of America's Civil War, and why it never became the circulating cent of the Confederacy.

Despite the advances of the civil rights movement, many white southerners cling to the faded glory of a romanticized Confederate past. In The Making of a Confederate, William L. Barney focuses on the life of one man, Walter Lenoir of North Carolina, to examine the origins of southern white identity alongside its myriad ambiguities and complexities. Born into a wealthy slaveholding family, Lenoir abhorred the institution, opposed secession, and planned to leave his family to move to Minnesota, in the free North. But when the war erupted in 1860, Lenoir found another escape route--he joined the Confederate army, an experience that would radically transform his ideals. After the war, Lenoir, like many others, embraced the cult of the Lost Cause, refashioning his memory and beliefs in an attempt to make sense of the war, its causes, and its consequences. While some Southerners sank into depression, aligned with the victors, or fiercely opposed the new order, Lenoir withdrew to his acreage in the North Carolina mountains. There, he pursued his own vision of the South's future, one that called for greater self-sufficiency and a more efficient use of the land. For Lenoir and many fellow Confederates, the war never really ended. As he tells this compelling story, Barney offers new insights into the ways that (selective) memory informs history; through Lenoir's life, readers learn how individual choices can transform abstract historical processes into concrete actions.

A “compelling” study of impact of the Civil War in Appalachia that “adeptly juggles the military, social, and political complexities of this border war” (American Historical Review). During the four years of the Civil War, the border between eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia was highly contested territory, alternately occupied by both the Confederacy and the Union. Though sparsely populated, the geography of the region made it a desirable stronghold for future tactical maneuvers. In Contested Borderland , Brian D. McKnight’s unprecedented geographical analysis of military tactics and civilian involvement provides a new and valuable dimension to the story of a region facing the turmoil of war. Winner of the James I. Robertson Literary Prize “A very valuable study.” —Appalachian Journal “Engaging and eminently readable. . . . A compelling account of an isolated world turned upside down by a war fought over issues few of its residents understood or cared much about.” —Civil War Times “A revealing and richly diverse account of the war in this too-neglected pocket of the South.” —Daniel E. Sutherland, editor of Guerrillas, Unionists, and Violence on the Confederate Home Front “Recommend[ed] for all serious Civil War scholars and enthusiasts.” —Journal of American History “McKnight’s work has much to offer in covering the war in the Central Appalachian Divide.” —Journal of East Tennessee History “An enjoyable and informational read.” —Journal of Military History “Essential for all Appalachian regional and Civil War collections.” —Journal of Southern History “The author’s analysis of military tactics, political realities, and genuine hardship, is first rate.” —West Virginia History

Most Americans hold basic misconceptions about the Confederacy, the Civil War, and the actions of subsequent neo-Confederates. For example, two thirds of Americans—including most history teachers—think the Confederate States seceded for “states' rights.” This error persists because most have never read the key documents about the Confederacy. These documents have always been there. When South Carolina seceded, it published “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.” The document actually opposes states' rights. Its authors argue that Northern states were ignoring the rights of slave owners as identified by Congress and in the Constitution. Similarly, Mississippi's “Declaration of the Immediate Causes. . .” says, “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world.” Later documents in this collection show how neo-Confederates obfuscated this truth, starting around 1890. The evidence also points to the centrality of race in neo-Confederate thought even today and to the continuing importance of neo-Confederate ideas in American political life. The 150th anniversary of secession and civil war provides a moment for all Americans to read these documents, properly set in context by award-winning sociologist and historian James W. Loewen and coeditor, Edward H. Sebesta, to put in perspective the mythology of the Old South.

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

After only 72 years in existence as an independent country, the United States succumbed to a civil war in 1861. President James Buchanan did very little to stem the tensions leading to the conflict, and the task fell to President Abraham Lincoln to save the Union from destruction. President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy of seceded states fought an unsuccessful war against the Union based on maintaining states rights. When President Abraham Lincoln was murdered at the wars end in 1865, President Andrew Johnson inherited the job of readmitting the states involved in the rebellion back into the Union.

From two esteemed Civil War historians comes an unparalleled portrait of the war that altered the foundation of America. Pithy text is accented by black and white photography and illustrations that bring key characters and settings to life.