Book Description

Why did Lincoln sneak into Washington for his inauguration? Why did Robert E. Lee resign from the U.S. Army? Whom did the Emancipation Proclamation emancipate? Did General Sherman really say "War is Hell"? What was the Richmond Bread Riot? What did the Confederate soldiers come home to find? If you can't answer most of these questions, you're not alone. Millions of Americans, bored by dull textbooks are in the dark about the most significant event in our history. Too many others thought they learned it all from Gone With the Wind.Now Kenneth C. Davis sheds light on these and other questions about America's greatest conflict. His Don't Know Much About History, a New York Times best-seller for more that thirty weeks, and Don't Know Much About Geography have combined sales of more than 1.5 million copies. All those who dozed through class will find that Davis has a genius for bringing history to life and helping them understand and enjoy the subjects they "Don't Know Much About." With his deft wit and unconventional style, Davis sorts out the players, the politics, and the key events--Harpers Ferry, Shiloh, Gettysburg, Emancipation, Reconstruction. Drawing on the moving eyewitness accounts of the people who lived through the war, he brings the reader into the world of the ordinary men and women who made history--the human side of the story that the textbooks never tell.