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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War
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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War Hardback - 2013

by Elizabeth R. Varon

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Reader reviews for Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

From the publisher

Winner, Library of Virginia Literary Award for Nonfiction
Winner, Eugene Feit Award in Civil War Studies, New York Military Affairs Symposium
Winner of the Dan and Marilyn Laney Prize of the Austin Civil War Round Table
Finalist, Jefferson Davis Award of the Museum of the Confederacy
Best Books of 2014, Civil War Monitor
6 Civil War Books to Read Now, Diane Rehm Show, NPR

Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House evokes a highly gratifying image in the popular mind -- it was, many believe, a moment that transcended politics, a moment of healing, a moment of patriotism untainted by ideology. But as Elizabeth Varon reveals in this vividly narrated history, this rosy image conceals a seething debate over precisely what the surrender meant and what kind of nation would emerge from war. The combatants in that debate included the iconic Lee and Grant, but they also included a cast of characters previously overlooked, who brought their own understanding of the war's causes, consequences, and meaning.

In Appomattox, Varon deftly captures the events swirling around that well remembered-but not well understood-moment when the Civil War ended. She expertly depicts the final battles in Virginia, when Grant's troops surrounded Lee's half-starved army, the meeting of the generals at the McLean House, and the shocked reaction as news of the surrender spread like an electric charge throughout the nation. But as Varon shows, the ink had hardly dried before both sides launched a bitter debate over the meaning of the war and the nation's future. For Grant, and for most in the North, the Union victory was one of right over wrong, a vindication of free society; for many African Americans, the surrender marked the dawn of freedom itself. Lee, in contrast, believed that the Union victory was one of might over right: the vast impersonal Northern war machine had worn down a valorous and unbowed South. Lee was committed to peace, but committed, too, to the restoration of the South's political power within the Union and the perpetuation of white supremacy. These two competing visions of the war's end paved the way not only for Southern resistance to reconstruction but also our ongoing debates on the Civil War, 150 years later.

Did America's best days lie in the past or in the future? For Lee, it was the past, the era of the founding generation. For Grant, it was the future, represented by Northern moral and material progress. They held, in the end, two opposite views of the direction of the country-and of the meaning of the war that had changed that country forever.

Details

  • Title Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War
  • Author Elizabeth R. Varon
  • Binding Hardback
  • Pages 320
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Oxford Univ PR, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2013-10-04
  • Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Index, Maps, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780199751716 / 0199751714
  • Weight 1.3 lbs (0.59 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.51 x 6.44 x 1.06 in (24.16 x 16.36 x 2.69 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 1851-1899
    • Geographic Orientation: Virginia
    • Topical: Civil War
  • Category History - Military / War
  • Library of Congress subjects Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877), Lee, Robert E
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2013019903
  • Dewey Decimal Code 973.738

Media reviews

Citations

  • Choice, 02/01/2014, Page 0
  • Kirkus Reviews, 09/01/2013, Page 0
  • Library Journal, 10/01/2013, Page 86

About the author

Elizabeth R. Varon is Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia. A noted Civil War historian, she is the author of Disunion!: The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859; We Mean to be Counted: White Women and Politics in Antebellum Virginia; and Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy, which was named one of the "Five Best" books on the "Civil War away from the battlefield" by the Wall Street Journal.

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Appomattox : Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

Appomattox : Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

by Elizabeth R. Varon

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Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2013. Hardcover. Good. Disclaimer:A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include previous owner inscriptions. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Appomattox : Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

Appomattox : Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

by Elizabeth R. Varon

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Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2013. Hardcover. Good. Disclaimer:A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include previous owner inscriptions. An ex-library book and may have standard library stamps and/or stickers. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Appomattox : Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

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Appomattox : Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War
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Appomattox : Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

by Varon, Elizabeth R

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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War
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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

by Varon, Elizabeth R

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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War
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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

by Elizabeth R. Varon

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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War
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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

by Varon, Elizabeth R.

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. First printing. Hardcover. Very Good +/very good +. Varon reveals in this vividly narrated history, this rosy image [of a moment of healing] conceals a seething debate over precisely what the surrender meant and what kind of nation would emerge from war." [from publisher] Includes black & white illustrations, maps, bibliography, and index. A clean unmarked copy.
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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, And Freedom At The End Of The Civil War

Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, And Freedom At The End Of The Civil War

by Varon, Elizabeth R.

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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War
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Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

by Varon, Elizabeth R

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by Varon, Elizabeth R

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