Part 1 The coming of war: American modernization, 1800-1860; the antebellum south; the ideological conflict over slavery; Texas, Mexico, and the compromise of 1850; filibusters, fugitives, and nativists; Kansas and the rise of the Republican party; the deepening crisis, 1857-1859; the critical year, 1859-1860; secession and the coming of war. Part 2 The Civil War: a brother's war - the upper South; mobilizing for war; the balance sheet of war; the war at home and abroad; the springtime of Northern hope; Jackson and Lee strike back; slavery and the war - Northern politics, 1861-1862; the first turning point - Antietam and emancipation; the winter of northern discontent; the second turning point - Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga; war issues and politics in 1863; behind the lines; wartime reconstruction and the freedpeople; military stalemate, 1864; the third turning point - the election of 1864; the end of the Confederacy. Part 3 Reconstruction: the problems of peace; the origins of "racial" reconstruction; reconstruction and the crisis of impeachment; the first grant administration; the southern question, 1869-1872; social and economic reconstruction; the retreat from reconstruction; the new South.
