About this item

This is the first book to not only select the events that most influenced the causes and outcome of America's Civil War, but also to rank them in order of significance. In each of the book's 20 detailed essays, author/historian/speaker Alan Axelrod presents an engaging narrative about the event, and also explains how the event shaped the course of the war, and ultimately the future of the country. The author's selection and ranking criteria include: Effect as cause or trigger of the war Decisiveness: whether it was a war-winning or war-losing event (both in military terms and in terms of public opinion, morale, and support) Magnitude and scope: size and cost of a battle Enduring postwar significance in American history, politics, society, culture and/or in military history and technologyFrom Lincoln's Inauguration, Antietam, and John Brown's raid, to the New York draft riots and Stonewall Jackson dying as a result of friendly fire - never before has the Civil War been explored quite this way.



About the Author

Alan Axelrod

I am the author of some 150 books on leadership, management, careers, history, military history, corporate history, career, general business, and other nonfiction. After receiving my Ph.D. in English (specializing in early American literature and culture) from the University of Iowa in 1979, I taught early American literature and culture at Lake Forest College (Lake Forest, Illinois) and at Furman University (Greenville, South Carolina) . I was an editor and scholar with the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (Winterthur, Delaware) , an institution specializing in the history and material culture of America prior to 1832. I was associate editor at Van Nostrand Reinhold (New York) , senior editor at Abbeville Press (New York) , and vice president of Zenda, Inc. (New York and Nashville) , a consulting firm to museums and cultural institutions. In 1994, I became director of development (senior acquisitions editor) for Turner Publishing, Inc. (Atlanta) , a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., and in 1997, I founded The Ian Samuel Group, Inc., a consulting, creative services, editing, and online content provider in Atlanta.I have been a creative consultant (and on-camera personality) for The Wild West television documentary series (Warner Bros., 1993) , Civil War Journal (A&E Network, 1994) , "The American Experience" series (PBS, 2016) , and The Discovery Channel, and he has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, CNNfn, CNBC, Fox Network affiliates in Philadelphia and Atlanta, and numerous radio news and talk programs, including National Public Radio. He and his work have been featured in BusinessWeek, Fortune, Men's Health, Cosmopolitan, Inc., Atlanta Business Chronicle, and many newspapers, including Atlanta Journal-Constitution and USA Today. Axelrod has served as consultant for the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum (Rochester, New York) , the Airman Memorial Museum (Suitland, Maryland) , and the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (Winterthur, Delaware) .



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