Gene Dattel
5.0 out of 5 stars Now I Better Understand What It Was All About,June 10, 2010
By Richard P. Canon (Spartanburg, SC United States) – See all my reviews
Being a proud fifth-generation Southerner, I thought that I fully understood why the Civil War was fought. Most of my understanding was based upon the influence of society and culture within which I grew up. Although none of my family were flag flying Confederates, there was very much pride in being a Southerner and having ancestors who fought for the Confederacy.
After reading this book, I honestly believe that I better understand why the Southerners did what they did. Within my lifetime I have been told over and over that the war was fought over the issue of slavery. As this book shows, slavery was at the root of the war. The primary issue of the war, however, was pure economics.
I had always accepted blame for the war as a Southerner. I felt that the Northern influence of slavery was insignificant or nonexistent. I was wrong. Just as the masses of Southerners were not the cause of the war, nor were the masses of the Northerners the cause of the war. Both North and South, it seems from this book, a relatively small number from the “United States” had the production of cotton paramount in their minds and their lives. It was all about MONEY. No cotton, no money. No money, no cotton. No slaves, no cotton. No slaves, no money. I really believe that it is that simple and this book led me to that conclusion.
I highly recommend this book to any citizen of the United States of America. I believe that having read this book, we can better understand our history. Maybe we can even prevent repeating bad history.
My thanks to the author in this extremely fine work. Although this was not an “easy” book to read, it should be read from cover to cover.
