William W. Freehling is one of America's leading historians. His groundbreaking works on slavery and the years leading up to the Civil War have earned him numerous awards and prizes. His first book, Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836, was hailed as one of the most significant studies of the pre-Civil War era, and earned him the prestigious Bancroft Prize and the Allan Nevins Prize for history. And his Owsley Prize-winning The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854, was praised by the Washington Times as "A triumph of historical research and art."
This provocative collection of essays, all of them new or thoroughly revised, synthesizes thirty years of Freehling's writing and reflection on the nature of slavery and the causes of the Civil War. He offers a fascinating look at subjects such as the nonradical nature of the American Revolution, as seen in the Founding Fathers' chary manner in promoting the antislavery cause. He illuminates the problematic concept of a "paternalism" which supposedly harmonized liberty for slaveholders (those who could protect themselves) with protection for slaves and impoverished whites (those who would allegedly fail as free men). Freehling then considers slaveholders' attempts to reconcile slavery with democracy and thus formulate a coherent world view, especially as seen in the strained ideologies of John C. Calhoun, George Fitzhugh, and James Henley Thornwell. In an important new interpretation of slave resistance, such as the Denmark Vesey uprising of 1822 (which sought to undercut this
paternalistic reconciliation of democracy and slavery), he describes rebellious slaves' success in casting doubt on the compatibility of democratic and authoritarian realms, and fugitive slaves' success in provoking Civil War and emancipation. Stressing the need for a new synthesis of American history both chronologically and topically, Freehling explains why the Civil War came, relating it to the American Revolution and the reasons why the Confederacy lost the Civil War. Likewise, the nature of slavery as a social institution is connected with the nature of pre-war politics and to the outcome of wartime military encounters.
Enhanced with brief introductions, the essays lay out the design of a new multicultural history of the United States, one which emphasizes the way African Americans, white women, and white men condition each other and foster social and political change.
Industry Reviews
"This is a thought-provoking book. Because it contains so many reflections on so many subjects, it should stimulate the reader to ponder some of the issues raised."--Civil War History
"The eleven essays in this collection summarize the best work and most provocative insights of a leading historian of the Old South on the role of slavery in the coming of the Civil War....These essays command our attention for their historiographical sophistication and their challenging reformation of the centrality of slavery in shaping Amerian history from the Revolution through the Civil War."--Georgia Historical Quarterly
"William W. Freehling is one of the leading chroniclers of the antebellum period today."--Southern Partisan
"There is much food for thought here! Anybody interested in American history in the 19th Century in general and the causes of the Civil War in particular will find this collection of essays a fascinating and enjoyable read."--The Civil War News
"William Freehling has things to say, now said more clearly, about the coming of the Civil War that are as trenchant as anything written in recent years."--he Times Literary Supplement
"In this book, Freehling has produced a series of well thought-out and well-written essays....This is a book that will cause its readers to rethink their attitudes about historical writing in general and about early American history more specifically."--History
"This is an outstanding contribution by a truly rare and remarkable scholar. These essasys are fresh, critical, and often profound. Freehling's prose is captivating."--Kenneth M. Startip, Williams Baptist College
"Excellent book, cogently argued with fresh insights on the crisis of the South."--Arthur L. Johnson, SUNY Potsdam
"A refreshingly self-reflective attitude toward scholarly efforts to integrate multicultural concerns with traditional interest in political events."--Library Journal
"This book is an unusual and fine work which argues with both history and historians in a manner refreshing to both student and instructor. It challenges both doubter and disciple of his arguments."--Dr. Jack J. Cardoso, Buffalo State College, SUNY
"Freehling offers a thoughtful collection of essays--some new, some thoroughly revised--reflecting 30 years of thoughts on the nature of slavery and the causes of the Civil War...Although slavery remains difficult to understand on any but an abstract level, it is to Freehling's great credit that he has offered an immensely readable explanation of the forces that created--and ultimately made impossible--what the slaveholders chose to describe simply as the
'Peculiar Institution.'"--Publishers Weekly
"In his most impressive essay, Freehling tracks the growing antebellum ambiguities of the founding fathers toward slavery as embedded in the Constitution. Perhaps his greatest contribution is his encouraging, by example, the reintegration of history by fusing the social, political, and military history of the war."--Michael Lawrence Renshaw, The Citadel
