Cecily N. Zander, author of The Army under Fire: The Politics of Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era

Intro: This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio,...The Civil War was fought almost entirely by vast armies of volunteer citizen soldiers, who dwarfed the tiny US regular army. The minor role that the regular Army played during the war has obscured its political significance before the war, when Republican politicians saw it as a tool of the southern slave power. And then after the war, when those same Republican's anti-military views had unintended effects on the course of reconstruction and westward expansion. Professor Cecily N. Zander describes these effects and more in 'The Army under Fire: The Politics of Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era.' We'll talk with her tonight, on Civil War Talk Radio.