The soldiers on both sides of the Civil War were united by a common history, and yet the legacy of this past was ambiguous, upholding both rebellion and union. Union and Confederate men went to war as Americans, convinced they fought an un-American, savage enemy. The war they fought was as emotional and catastrophic as any in history, a violent crucible that forged a new national identity. Civil War Soldiersis a fresh and compelling attempt to fathom the war's significance then and now and makes immediate the charged issues and bitter ironies of a nation torn by a conflict over the...