This series of books is great and this one is among the best that I've read - it is bigger and contains more detail than many of the others, encompassing the content from what were previously two civil war titles. The text is easy to read and clear and the book is packed with character profiles, maps, photos, cartoons and diagrams. 'Call-out boxes' and chapter questions encourage active rather than passive reading and I believe this has helped me understand and remember more of the details than might otherwise be the case.

A range of issues are covered, including: the home front, diplomacy, social conditions, economic differences between the north and south, the role of western expansion & the Mexican war, slavery and, of course, the military aspects of the conflict. The author takes, what I think is the traditionalist, position that slavery was hugely influential as a cause of the war.

If I were required to offer a criticism, it would be that the military history (doctrine, tactics, training, weapons etc) is not given as much emphasis as I would have expected. Overall, I highly recommended this book as an introduction to the US civil war. ( )