Civil War America: 1850-1870

“(Johnson) is a master of narrative history.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

From the pages of Paul Johnson’s authoritative A History of the American People comes an intimate and compelling account of the lives of ordinary Americans during the tumultuous Civil War. Johnson conveying the personal impact of the monumental conflict upon Americans great and small who endured its greatest hardships. The Washington Post Book World says, “it is Johnson’s gift that he can make his subjects human and fallible enough that we would, indeed, recognize them instantly, while also illuminating what made them heroes.” Harper Perennial has distilled Johnson’s larger work to focus on the American experience during the Civil War, providing an indispensable resource for anyone striving to understand the day-to-day consequences of the war between the states.