A lot of great reviews:
"In Fateful Lightning, two-time Lincoln Prize-winning historian Allen C. Guelzo offers a marvelous portrait of the Civil War and its era, covering not only the major figures and epic battles, but also politics, religion, gender, race, diplomacy, and technology. And unlike other surveys of the Civil War era, it extends the reader's vista to include the postwar Reconstruction period and discusses the modern-day legacy of the Civil War in American literature and popular culture. Guelzo also puts the conflict in a global perspective, underscoring Americans' acute sense of the vulnerability of their republic in a world of monarchies. He examines the strategy, the tactics, and especially the logistics of the Civil War and brings the most recent historical thinking to bear on emancipation, the presidency and the war powers, the blockade and international law, and the role of intellectuals, North and South."
"Excellent work, not only on the progress of the war, but the social and economic setting. Unlike many such histories it carries the saga through into and even beyond the Reconstruction era. For the time being, a definitive work."
"Guelzo begins from the premise that slavery was single driving cause of the war, and much of the book supports that premise. However, Guelzo reveals a view of slavery that we do not hold in modern times, and understanding that view unlocks a greater understanding of how the Civil War arose."
"Excellent!"
