The American Civil War: Explorations and Reconsiderations offers a timely and useful guide to this vast topic for a new generation of students and general readers alike. This volume provides a broad-ranging assessment of the causes, complexities, and consequences of America's most destruction conflict to date. What sets The American Civil War: Explorations and Reconsiderations apart from other works on the Civil War is the originality of approach to each particular topic. This is very much a volume that shows the reader how, and in what ways, differing interpretations of the war have arisen, and explains clearly why the American Civil War remains a subject of enduring interest in both America and globally. The American Civil War moves beyond traditional subjects and includes pathbreaking chapters on the Constitution and the Civil War; on the Confederate debate on emancipation; on the role of the war in the creation of American national identity; and on the development, and strength, of the Union prior to 1861. Divided into four sections: - the Political Front- the Military Front- the Race Front- the Ideological Front -The American Civil War offers alternative perspectives on the mo