One of the most examined and historically significant wars to the United States, the American Civil War, has always been a popular period of discussion between history buffs and otherwise, but what did the war mean to those of the time? And how do the major impacts of a war in the mid-19th century still affect the U.S. today? With first-hand sources of diary entries and newspaper columns, Edward Ayers details the suspense and total feeling of uncertainty experienced by those in the 1860s and on,