CLASH OF EXTREMES; The Economic Origins of the Civil War

Egnal, Marc

ISBN 10: 080909536X / ISBN 13: 9780809095360

Published by Hill and Wang / A Division of Farrar Straus and Giroux, New York, 2009

About this Item

SIGNED by the Author, 8vo (9" x 6.3"), cloth and boards, Mylar-protected lettered dust jacket, 432 pages. SCARCE SIGNED. Marc Egnal--professor of history at York University and author of several books--rebuts Southern apologists and demonstrates that the Civil War was more about economics than supposed high moral principles and clashing ideologies. Important historical insights! EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION SIGNED!

Seller Inventory # 1198

Bibliographic Details

• Title: CLASH OF EXTREMES; The Economic Origins of the Civil War
• Publisher: Hill and Wang / A Division of Farrar Straus and Giroux, New York
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080909536X
• ISBN 13: 9780809095360
• Binding: Cloth and boards
• Edition: First Edition, First Printing.
• Condition: Very Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Clash of Extremes takes on the reigning orthodoxy that the American Civil War was waged over high moral principles. Marc Egnal contends that economics, more than any other factor, moved the country to war in 1861.

 

Drawing on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Egnal shows that between 1820 and 1850, patterns of trade and production drew the North and South together and allowed sectional leaders to broker a series of compromises. After midcentury, however, all that changed as the rise of the Great Lakes economy reoriented Northern trade along east-west lines. Meanwhile, in the South, soil exhaustion, concerns about the country’s westward expansion, and growing ties between the Upper South and the free states led many cotton planters to contemplate secession. The war that ensued was truly a “clash of extremes.”

 

Sweeping from the 1820s through Reconstruction and filled with colorful portraits of leading individuals, Clash of Extremes emphasizes economics while giving careful consideration to social conflicts, ideology, and the rise of the antislavery movement. The result is a bold reinterpretation that will challenge the way we think about the Civil War.

About the Author

Marc Egnal is a professor of history at York University and the author of several books, including A Mighty Empire: The Origins of the American Revolution and Divergent Paths: How Culture and Institutions Have Shaped North American Growth.