In the national hysteria that followed, eight others were arrested and tried; four of those were executed, four imprisoned. Therein lie all the classic elements of a great thriller. But the untold tale is even more fascinating.Now, in American Brutus, Michael W. Kauffman, one of the foremost Lincoln assassination authorities, takes familiar history to a deeper level, offering an unprecedented, authoritative account of the Lincoln murder conspiracy. Working from a staggering array of archival sources and new research, Kauffman sheds new light on the background and motives of John Wilkes Booth, the mechanics of his plot to topple the Union government, and the trials and fates of the conspirators.Piece by piece, Kauffman explains and corrects common misperceptions and analyzes the political motivation behind Booth’s plan to unseat Lincoln, in whom the assassin saw a treacherous autocrat, “an American Caesar.” In preparing his study, Kauffman spared no effort getting at the truth: He even lived in Booth’s house, and re-created key parts of Booth’s escape. Thanks to Kauffman’s discoveries, readers will have a new understanding of this defining event in our nation’s history, and they will come to see how public sentiment about Booth at the time of the assassination and ever since has made an accurate account of his actions and motives next to impossible–until now.In nearly 140 years there has been an overwhelming body of literature on the Lincoln assassination, much of it incomplete and oftentimes contradictory. In American Brutus, Kauffman finally makes sense of an incident whose causes and effects reverberate to this day. Provocative, absorbing, utterly cogent, at times controversial, this will become the definitive text on a watershed event in American history.From the Hardcover edition.

    Its most striking personalities seem somehow outsized, magnified beyond the ability of books or even legend to contain them. And few among those personalities have ever held our attention like General Robert Edward Lee. With his Army of Northern Virginia, Lee came to embody the cause of the Confederacy itself, inspiring a commitment from troops and civilians that eventually overshadowed even those given to its political leaders and institutions. This riveting series of 24 lectures from one of the nation's most respected Civil War historians explains how this came to pass, and how - in a war that produced no other successful Confederate armies - this amazing leader was able to create and inspire an army whose achievements resonated not only across the Confederacy but also throughout the North and in foreign capitals like London and Paris. You'll learn what Lee was actually like, and gain insights into his ideas about strategy and tactics. You'll grasp how battlefield events influenced public opinion on the home fronts of both the Union and the Confederacy. And, most of all, you'll grasp how crucial Lee's choices in forming his high command were to the war's events and outcome. These lectures have been designed to appeal to everyone who wants to understand more about the Civil War and why it unfolded as it did, whether your interest is in the strategy and tactics underlying its major battles or in the broader context within which those battles took place.12 CDs with course guide booklets. Six hours run time.

    The May 16, 1863, fighting took place just 20 miles east of the river city, where the advance of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Federal army attacked Gen. John C. Pemberton's hastily gathered Confederates. The bloody fighting seesawed back and forth until superior Union leadership broke apart the Southern line, sending Pemberton's army into headlong retreat. The victory on Mississippi's wooded hills sealed the fate of both Vicksburg and her large field army, propelled Grant into the national spotlight, and earned him the command of the entire U.S. armed forces.Timothy Smith, who holds a Ph.D. from Mississippi State and works as a historian for the National Park Service, has written the definitive account of this long overlooked battle. His vivid prose is grounded upon years of primary research and is rich in analysis, strategic and tactical action, and character development. Champion Hill will become a classic Civil War battle study. REVIEWS WINNER, NON-FICTION, 2005, MISSISSIPPI INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND LETTERS

    The text features carefully selected eye-witness accounts that accompany the paintings, and the result is a moving ensemble of images and words that pays homage to the common soldier. Rocco's oils are reproduced here on acid-free, heavy art paper and placed in a finely sewn binding.

    

    A hard-drinking soldier in a hard-drinking army, he led the Union armies to victory, first in the West and then in the East, eventually compelling the main Confederate army under Robert E. Lee to surrender at Appomattox in 1865. Yet at the beginning of the Civil War no one, least of all the man himself, anticipated that Grant would lead the Union forces to victory. Ulysses S. Grant was a failure as a pre-war soldier. His subsequent business career was even worse. His emergence as a successful general and eventual promotion to Commander-in-Chief is a stunning example of how a soldier's peacetime career sometimes gives no indication of how he will perform in a major war. Grant's advance down the Mississippi realized General Scott’s ‘Anaconda’ plan and ultimately cut the Confederacy in half. His capture of Vicksburg, just as Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North was halted at Gettysburg, spelt the end for the Confederacy. Yet Grant's battles in 1864 cost the Union army dearly and he has never quite shaken off the reputation as a ‘butcher’ who bludgeoned down the Army of Northern Virginia by sheer weight of numbers. Robin Neillands investigates how and why Grant emerged from pre-war obscurity and whether his ultimate victory was won by brains or brawn. Robin Neillands is the author of several acclaimed works on the First World War including ‘The Death of Glory’, ‘The Great War Generals on the Western Front’, ‘Attrition: The Great War on the Western Front, 1916’ and ‘The Old Contemptibles’. Praise for Robin Neillands: ‘One of Britain’s most readable historians’ – Birmingham Post ‘Immensely readable … a blast of fresh air’ – The Spectator ‘Informed and explicit, this is military history at its best’ – Western Daily Press ‘Neilland’s willingness to call a spade a spade will catch the popular imagination. His central argument is hard to fault’ – Literary Review Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

    Signed by the Author!

    Combining varied historical and literary sources, Sarah Gardner argues that women served as guardians of the collective memory of the war and helped define and reshape southern identity. Gardner considers such well-known authors as Caroline Gordon, Ellen Glasgow, and Margaret Mitchell and also recovers works by lesser-known writers such as Mary Ann Cruse, Mary Noailles Murfree, and Varina Davis. In fiction, biographies, private papers, educational texts, historical writings, and through the work of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, southern white women sought to tell and preserve what they considered to be the truth about the war. But this truth varied according to historical circumstance and the course of the conflict. Only in the aftermath of defeat did a more unified vision of the southern cause emerge. Yet Gardner reveals the existence of a strong community of Confederate women who were conscious of their shared effort to define a new and compelling vision of the southern war experience.In demonstrating the influence of this vision, Gardner highlights the role of the written word in defining a new cultural identity for the postbellum South.During the Civil War, its devastating aftermath, and the decades following, many southern white women turned to writing as a way to make sense of their experiences. Combining varied historical and literary sources, Sarah Gardner argues that women served as guardians of the collective memory of the war and helped define and reshape southern identity. She considers such well-known authors as Caroline Gordon, Ellen Glasgow, and Margaret Mitchell and also recovers works by lesser-known writers such as Mary Ann Cruse, Mary Noailles Murfree, and Varina Davis. Gardner reveals the existence of a strong community of Confederate women who were conscious of their shared effort to define a new and compelling vision of the southern war experience. In demonstrating the influence of this vision, Gardner highlights the role of the written word in defining a new cultural identity for the postbellum South.