The American companion to A History of the World in 100 Objects, a fresh, visual perspective on the Civil War
From a soldierโs diary with the pencil still attached to John Brownโs pike, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the leaves from Abraham Lincolnโs bier, here is a unique and surprisingly intimate look at the Civil War.
Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer sheds new light on the war by examining fifty objects from the New-York Historical Societyโs acclaimed collection. A daguerreotype of an elderly, dignified ex-slave; a soldierโs footlocker still packed with its contents; Grantโs handwritten terms of surrender at Appomattoxโthe stories these objects tell are rich, poignant, sometimes painful, and always fascinating. They illuminate the conflict from all perspectivesโUnion and Confederate, military and civilian, black and white, male and femaleโand give readers a deeply human sense of the war.