A biography of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Following an early military career, he became senator for Mississippi and a strong advocate of slavery. He eventually resigned from the Senate on Mississippi's secession from the Union and became President of the Confederacy in 1861.

This work explores the life and career of Abraham Lincoln who was born to two uneducated farmers. It tells how he worked himself up from farmer to respected lawyer to US Congressman to the 16th US president.

Thomas Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson was the great-grandson of indentured servants from Ireland who were sentenced to serve time in America for larceny. This book explores his life and career.

This biography looks at the military career of General William Tecumseh Sherman. At the outbreak of the Civil war, he joined the Union Army, eventually becoming supreme commander of the armies in the West. His 'March to the Sea' campaign through Georgia was an inetgral reason for the surrender of the Confederate armies in 1865.

Ulysses S. Grant is a puzzling figure in American history. The 18th president of the US had corruption associated with his administration, but he was a decorated war hero famous for turing attacks by the Confederate Army into victories for the Union. This book explores his life and career.

This book examines the vastly contrasting views held on the controversial anti-slavery campaigner, John Brown, who famously led the unsuccessful raid on the federal armoury at Harper's Ferry. Many regard him as a heroic martyr and visionary, while others see him as a madman and American terrorist.

Harriet Beecher Stowe grew up in a family where the boys were seen as assets and the girls as second-class citizens. The lack of power for women in the 1800s fueled her outrage against slavery, and she began to write religious periodicals to support her family. This book explores his life and career.

Born a slave in Maryland, Frederick Douglass became one of the best orators and statesmen in America. He became a newspaper editor, political activist, and a representative for the rights of African Americans. He believed in equal rights for all people, and lived through the Civil War, the end of slavery and the beginning of segregation.

Born Araminta Ross, Harriet Tubman was a former slave who became an abolitionist and a spy for the Union army during the Civil War. Tubman is most famous for rescuing more than 70 runaway slaves by using a network of safe houses owned by other abolitionists known as the Underground Railroad.

From ex-slaves and abolitionists to heroic military leaders and presidents that changed the world, this book presents a full picture of some of the important figures who lived during this tumultuous time in US history.