{"product_id":"appomattox-victory-defeat-and-freedom-at-the-end-of-the-civil-war-hardcover","title":"Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eElizabeth R. Varon\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWinner, Library of Virginia Literary Award for Nonfiction\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinner, Eugene Feit Award in Civil War Studies, New York Military Affairs Symposium\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Dan and Marilyn Laney Prize of the Austin Civil War Round Table\u003cbr\u003eFinalist, Jefferson Davis Award of the Museum of the Confederacy\u003cbr\u003eBest Books of 2014, Civil War Monitor\u003cbr\u003e6 Civil War Books to Read Now, Diane Rehm Show, NPR \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLee'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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eAppomattox\u003c\/em\u003e, 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\u003cbr\u003ewithin 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDid 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eElizabeth R. Varon\u003c\/strong\u003e is Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia. A noted Civil War historian, she is the author of \u003cem\u003eDisunion!: The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859\u003c\/em\u003e;\u003cem\u003e We Mean to be Counted: White Women and Politics in Antebellum Virginia\u003c\/em\u003e; and \u003cem\u003eSouthern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy\u003c\/em\u003e, which was named one of the \"Five Best\" books on the \"Civil War away from the battlefield\" by the \u003cem\u003eWall Street Journal. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 320\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.06 x 9.51 x 6.44 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 04, 2013\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45259007033446,"sku":"9780199751716","price":42.92,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/7255\/0758\/files\/R2krS2hteUZ1aXQvbFRPQUx0Tkc2Zz09.webp?v=1773813028","url":"https:\/\/infinitylightwa.com\/products\/appomattox-victory-defeat-and-freedom-at-the-end-of-the-civil-war-hardcover","provider":"Infinity Light","version":"1.0","type":"link"}