The 12 essays in Wars within a War explore the internal stresses that
posed serious challenges to the viability of the opposing sides in the
Civil War as well as some of the ways in which wartime disputes and
cultural fissures carried over into the postwar years and beyond.
Comprised of contributions from leading scholars, this volume extends
the discussion of controversies far past the death of the Confederacy in
the spring of 1865. Contributors address, among other topics, Walt
Whitman's poetry, the handling of the Union and Confederate dead, the
treatment of disabled and destitute northern veterans, Ulysses S.
Grant's imposing tomb, and Hollywood's long relationship with the Lost
Cause narrative.
Reflecting a variety of approaches and methodologies, these essays
provide a starting point for anyone interested in how Americans have
argued about the prosecution, meaning, and memory of the war.