The Dogs of War

Acclaimed historian Emory Thomas highlights the delusions that dominated each side's thinking at the beginning of the Civil War. Lincoln believed that most Southerners loved the Union, and would be dragged unwillingly into secession by the planter class. Jefferson Davis could not quite believe that Northern resolve would survive the first battle. Thomas weaves his exploration of these misconceptions into a tense narrative of the months leading up to the war, from the "Great Secession...
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Acclaimed historian Emory Thomas highlights the delusions that dominated each side's thinking at the beginning of the Civil War. Lincoln believed that most Southerners loved the Union, and would be dragged unwillingly into secession by the planter class. Jefferson Davis could not quite believe that Northern resolve would survive the first battle. Thomas weaves his exploration of these misconceptions into a tense narrative of the months leading up to the war, from the "Great Secession Winter" to a fast-paced account of the Fort Sumter crisis in 1861.