The Civil War is shrouded in myth--but this new entry in the Real Historyseries provides a clear, fresh view of the events that's intellectual. but never dryly academic. Covering everything from the roots of the conflict to Reconstruction, Axelrod addresses a range of less-discussed subjects such as the efforts to avert war (including Lincoln's initial hesitant response); the fragmentation of popular opinion in the North and the South; and the institutional problems that afflicted the Union and Confederate Armies. Axelrod also explores the so-called "turning points" of the war and whether slavery really was the major cause of the conflict. Diary excerpts, letters, sidebars, and contemporary photography, art, and maps round out this absorbing, thought-provoking study.