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Congress at War: How Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America
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54
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
90/100Critics
17/100Scholars
Author:
Fergus M. Bordewich
Publisher:
Knopf
Date:
February 18, 2020
The story of how Congress helped win the Civil War in a new perspective that puts the House and Senate, rather than Lincoln, at the center of the conflict.
What The Reviewers Say
... extraordinary.
In his splendid Congress at War, the seasoned historian Fergus Bordewich...skillfully describes the continuing congressional effort to abolish the institution.
... offers insight into the overlooked legislative conflicts during the Civil War, deftly following legislators Thaddeus Stevens, Benjamin Wade, William P. Fessenden, and Clement Vallandigham, and bringing to life the personalities behind factions of Radical Republicans, Unionists, and Copperheads. Bordewich expertly shows how each faction wrestled with funding, equipping, and supplying manpower to what turned out to be a long and expensive war, and whether to authorize military enlistment and extend rights to African Americans.
Although the subject of the book is specific, its implications are universal.
