Salesman's dummy, containing prospectus (p. [1]-[39], 1st group), press notices about the work (p. 1-15), and blanks for names of subscribers; sample bindings mounted inside front and back covers.

Examines the history, events and people that defined the American Civil War and the years of reconstruction proceeding the war.

The book "was a sensation in its day, evoking attacks by Northern and Southern champions of causes upon which it impinged.": Dictionary of American Biography IX:574.

Vol. 1 is a sweeping political and social history of the antebellum South from 1776 to 1854.

A lucidly written, richly researched, and convincing analysis of the global forces that shaped the politics of the southern slaveholders."—Journal of American History "Schoen has written an immensely important history of southern ...