A review by geeeburns
What This Cruel War Was Over by Chandra Manning

5.0

Manning's scholarly work is a reasoned, well-balanced examination of what ordinary soldiers thought about the relationship between slavery and the American Civil War. Using Union and Conferate primary sources, she demonstrates slavery--not abstract arguments such as state's rights or republican government--was the focus of soldiers' view of the war. The book enhances our understanding of why slavery mattered to the Confederate rank and file, the majority of whom owned no slaves, as well as illustrates how enlisted Union troops became a "critical link" betwwen government policy makers and slaves.