"The Civil War Archive is a collection of first-person accounts and landmark documents - by soldiers, generals, politicans, presidents, poets, slaves, wives, mothers and children - that brings the Civil War to life through the words of those who were there. Brutal accounts of battle direct from the men who fought it, influential documents from the era's foremost political thinkers, heartfelt words from families at home - all combine to depict the war between the states with a power and immediacy unmatched by conventional historical retellings." "Editor Erik Bruun adds an array of new voices to the public record. The result is a modern view of the war that takes into account recent scholarship and historical interpretations that have emerged since Commager's work was first published in 1950. Each chapter opens with a discussion of the relevant themes, and every selection is presented with an introduction establishing the historical, military or political context."--BOOK JACKET.