1865: The Rebirth of a Nation

FAIN: FZ-250584-17

Adam Goodheart
Washington College (Chestertown, MD 21620-1197)

A history of the Civil War’s end that begins where others stop. The Confederacy surrenders and Lincoln dies on the very first page; the rest of 1865 draws on largely overlooked episodes of that year to bring to life emerging conflicts over what kind of America the victors and the vanquished would build amid the rubble.

A narrative history of the year in which the Civil War ended and a new conflict immediately began: the struggle over the war’s impact, legacy, and meaning. Many histories of the Civil War’s end exist, but this one begins where nearly all the others stop. The Confederacy surrenders and Lincoln dies on the very first page; the rest of “1865” tells the story of what followed. What kind of nation would the victors and the vanquished build amid the rubble? Would it be a reconstructed version of the one shattered in 1861, or rather – for better or worse – a new version of the American experiment? As with most civil wars, victory and defeat seemed intertwined. The ensuing struggle over redefinition engaged nearly all Americans: Northerners and Southerners; men and women; radicals and conservatives; tycoons and immigrants; African Americans, whites, and Natives. “1865,” which uses collage-like techniques to evoke the past, is a pendant to my 2011 book “1861: The Civil War Awakening.”

Associated Products

"Regime Change in Charlottesville" (Article)
Title: "Regime Change in Charlottesville"
Author: Adam Goodheart
Abstract: The current fight over Civil War monuments is only partly about the true meaning of the Civil War and the deeds or misdeeds of men in gray coats. Those statues went up for other reasons, and the argument today is about why we, as a nation—the reunited U.S.A.—put those monuments up in our public spaces in the first place.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/16/regime-change-in-charlottesville-215500
Access Model: Open access
Format: Other
Periodical Title: Politico
Publisher: Politico

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