
The verdict is in: the Civil War was won in the West, that is, in the nation's heartland, between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Contrary to much popular literature, serious scholars have determined in one careful study after another the pivotal importance...

The verdict is in: the Civil War was won in the West--that is, in the nation's heartland, between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Yet, a person who follows the literature on the war might still think that it was the conflict in Virginia that ultimately...