Aaron Sheehan-Dean explore les complexités de la guerre civile américaine, en examinant ses causes et conséquences profondes. Son travail offre un regard pénétrant sur les motivations des individus aux côtés des forces sociétales plus larges qui ont façonné cette ère tumultueuse. En mettant l'accent sur les voix authentiques de ceux qui ont vécu ces événements, il apporte aux lecteurs la réalité brute du conflit. Ses efforts éditoriaux actuels consolident davantage sa position d'éminent spécialiste de cette période charnière de l'histoire américaine.
Focusing on Virginia soldiers and their families during the Civil War, the study reveals the personal experiences of rank-and-file soldiers through new statistical evidence and first-person accounts. It examines how these soldiers, including nonslaveholders, redefined their understanding of the war's purpose to maintain their commitment to the Confederate cause. The work provides a nuanced view of the social and emotional landscape of the time.
Discarding tidy abstractions about the conduct of war, Aaron Sheehan-Dean shows that the notoriously bloody US Civil War could have been much worse. Despite agonizing debates over Just War and careful differentiation among victims, Americans could not avoid living with the contradictions inherent in a conflict that was both violent and restrained.