The American Civil War

A Story Without Peer These 48 lectures, taught by leading Civil War historian Professor Gary W. Gallagher, are a true tour de force-the work of a master teacher at the top of his form. Professor Gallagher richly details the effect of the war on all Americans. You'll learn how armies were recruited, equipped, and trained. You'll learn about the hard lot of prisoners. You'll hear how soldiers on both sides dealt with the rigors of camp life, campaigns, and the terror of combat. You'll understand how slaves and their falling masters responded to the advancing war. And you will see the desperate price paid by the families so many left behind. Blue and Gray, Soaked in Red Gettysburg. Antietam. Bull Run. Shiloh. The Wilderness. Missionary Ridge. Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western Hemisphere had ever seen turned these small towns, little-known streams, and obscure corners of American countryside into names that will endure forever. Though this is not simply a course on Civil War battles and generals, about half of the lectures are devoted to the strategic and tactical dimensions of military campaigns. We must never forget: The cost in human life was greater than that for all other American wars combined, from colonial times through the wars against terrorism. Professor Gallagher's recounting of the great battles and campaigns will keep you on the edge of your seat. One customer writes: "I couldn't wait for my commute to and from work. Then I found myself sitting in the parking lot and later, driving around my neighborhood just to finish the lessons." Another customer plans to go even further: "I'm going to drive cross country just so I can listen to Civil War tapes again!" What makes these lectures so compelling? From Fort Sumter and First Manassas to Sherman's March and Appomattox, Dr. Gallagher brings complex patterns of events into clear focus, identifies opportunities lost or seized, and quotes memorably from first-hand accounts to give you a clear idea what it was like to be at "the sharp end" of the war's battlefields. Extraordinary leaders and incompetent tyrants served on both sides. Their power to fascinate, to inspire, or to exasperate remains undimmed. Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, and others come to life.