An interesting take on the cause of the US Civil War, Egnal argues that it was economics, far more than slavery or states rights that set the two regions on a collision course. Thoroughy researched and full of facts and figures, he also weaves in stories of individuals to make his case. I am not sure I buy into it 100%, but it certainly thought-provoking and worth the read. ( )

Great detail about the formation of the Republican party and its economic goals and priorities and how the South became alienated from the Northern economy and its westward expansion. Egnal has been accused of ignoring slavery as the cause of the war; however, I feel he details the real economic conflicts between the backward, isolated agrarian plantation/slave system of the South and the vibrant expanding Industrial North.

For example, Egnal tells of a the son of a rich Virgina planter who studies the new science of Soil Management, Crop Rotation and the use of modern agricultural equipment, such as steam powered tractors and harvesters. He finds huge improvement in crop yields if soils are limed and then fertilized with manure. He travels to South Carolina where the same crops have been grown on the same land for many generations, cutting crop yields by 75%. He tries to educated the plantation owners in more up to date farming techniques, and discovers they will not invest in new equipment because the slave laborers are considered unable to learn how to maintain and operate modern farming equipment. The Carolina planters also considered the use of manure as a fertilizer to be "crude" and unworthy of a gentleman farmer. They would rather buy cheap land and move their slave-based farming system in the West - Arkansas, West Texas, Missouri and beyond. ( )