THE SOUTH AND THE SECTIONAL CONFLICT

Potter, David M.

Verlag: Baton Rouge LA. 1968. Louisiana State Univ. Press

Beschreibung

green cloth hardcover 8vo. (octavo) with black & gilt spine label. dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. looks new. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in near fine cond., spine faded, missing little pieces at top, price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition. first printing (SD & NAP). xi+321p. bibliographic footnotes throughout. index. american history. american civil war. ~ David M. Potter ranks among this country's leading historians. While he has not been exclusively associated with the history of the South, his contribution in this field has been one of major significance. The eleven essays collected here~in which Potter treats some of the most complex questions in Southern history, particularly those impinging directly and indirectly upon the South and the Civil War~represent some or his most important work. The essays are grouped under three general headings: The Nature of Southernism, Three Historiographical Forays, and The Crisis of the Union. Essays in the first section examine the long~standing riddle: What is the essence of the nature of the South? "Today," says Potter, "the vein of Southernism may or may not be growing thin, but the vein of paradox is certainly not growing thin. More homogeneous with the rest of the nation than at any time in the past, the South is seemingly more at odds with the dominant trends of the nation than at any time since Appomattox." In the second section he examines the evolution of the South's historical literature as a matter not only of "historiography" but as a key to the fascinating changes in the way in which historical interpreters have viewed the South and its past. "The opportunities of study in Southern history," he concludes, "cannot have been very seriously depleted when we are still debating the basic questions, and when the essential character of Southern society still presents different appearances to different viewers." Five essays in the final section weigh key questions about the sectional conflict which ended in the Civil War: whether Horace Greeley was sincere when he advocated allowing the South to secede; what motivated the Republicans when they decided, for the first time in a sectional crisis, not to compromise; whether any of John Brown's best friends were Negroes; how much Jefferson Davis really wanted a Confederate victory; and the significance of the Civil War in relation to' the dominant forces in the modern world. Potter's insights and perspectives have been distilled from many years of study and teaching. His essays add significantly to our understanding of many salient and sometimes unrecognized aspects of the historical experience of the South and the American trauma of the Civil War. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 3312003

Bibliografische Details

Titel: THE SOUTH AND THE SECTIONAL CONFLICT

Verlag: Baton Rouge LA. 1968. Louisiana State Univ. Press

Einband: Hardcover

Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Schutzumschlag

Auflage: 1. Auflage