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Congress at War: How Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America
$32.50
Read the latest from author and historian Fergus Bordewich. Congress at War is the story of how Congress helped win the Civil War–a new perspective that puts the House and Senate, rather than Lincoln, at the center of the conflict.
NEW: Includes signed book plate by the author for limited time only
This brilliantly argued new perspective on the Civil War overturns the popular conception that Abraham Lincoln single-handedly led the Union to victory and gives us a vivid account of the essential role Congress played in winning the war.
Building a riveting narrative around four influential members of Congress–Thaddeus Stevens, Pitt Fessenden, Ben Wade, and the proslavery Clement Vallandigham–Fergus Bordewich shows us how a newly empowered Republican party shaped one of the most dynamic and consequential periods in American history. From reinventing the nation’s financial system to pushing President Lincoln to emancipate the slaves to the planning for Reconstruction, Congress undertook drastic measures to defeat the Confederacy, in the process laying the foundation for a strong central government that came fully into being in the twentieth century. Brimming with drama and outsize characters, Congress at War is also one of the most original books about the Civil War to appear in years and will change the way we understand the conflict. – Penguin Random House
Book is hardcover.
Additional information
Weight
28.59 oz
Dimensions
9.5 × 6.5 × 1.5 in
Author Biography
FERGUS M. BORDEWICH is the author of seven nonfiction books, including The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government; America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise That Preserved the Union; and Washington: The Making of the American Capital. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Jean Parvin Bordewich.
