Steven E Woodworth

Referring to the war that was raging across parts of the American landscape, Abraham Lincoln told Congress in 1862, "We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope on earth." Lincoln recognized what was at stake in the American Civil War: not only freedom for 3.5 million slaves but also survival of self-government in the last place on earth where it could have the opportunity of developing freely. Noted historian Steven E. Woodworth tells...

Leadership and Command is a unique collection of five carefully-crafted essays by leading scholars, each dealing with an important and understudied slice of history from the epic events of 1861-1865. Georgia historian Richard McMurry inaugurates this compendium by directing the bright spotlight of scrutiny upon Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's early-war tenure of command in the Eastern Theater of operations. It was in Virginia, asserts McMurry,...

A sweeping history of the 1840s that captures America's enormous sense of possibility that inspired it's growth and shows how the extraordinary expansion of territories forced the nation to come to grips with the deep rift that would bring war just a decade later. The author gives us a portrait of America at its most vibrant and expansive. It was a decade in which the nation significantly enlarged its boundaries, taking Texas, New Mexico, California,...