Armies of Deliverance, Elizabeth R. Varon
Armies of Deliverance, Elizabeth R. Varon
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Armies of Deliverance
A New History of the Civil War

Author: Elizabeth R. Varon

Narrator: Paul Woodson

Unabridged: 17 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/13/2019

Synopsis

Loyal Americans marched off to war in 1861 not to conquer the South but to liberate it. So argues Elizabeth R. Varon in Armies of Deliverance, a sweeping narrative of the Civil War and a bold new interpretation of Union and Confederate war aims. Northerners imagined the war as a crusade to deliver the Southern masses from slaveholder domination and to bring democracy, prosperity, and education to the region. As the war escalated, Lincoln and his allies built the case that emancipation would secure military victory and benefit the North and South alike. The theme of deliverance was essential in mobilizing a Unionist coalition of Northerners and anti-Confederate Southerners.

Confederates, fighting to establish an independent slaveholding republic, were determined to preempt, discredit, and silence Yankee appeals to the Southern masses. In their quest for political unity Confederates relentlessly played up two themes: Northern barbarity and Southern victimization. Casting the Union army as ruthless conquerors, Confederates argued that the emancipation of blacks was synonymous with the subjugation of the white South.

About Elizabeth R. Varon

Elizabeth R. Varon is Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia. She is the author of numerous award-winning books, including Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy, Disunion!: The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859, and Appomattox: Victory, Defeat and Freedom at the End of the Civil War.

Reviews

Goodreads review by robin on March 02, 2023

Deliverance And The Civil War Learning about the United States and its history is a never-ending rewarding experience. In particular, the study of the many facets of the Civil War can bring insights over a lifetime to amateurs, Civil War "buffs", and scholars alike. In times of turmoil it is good to......more

Goodreads review by Jill on February 25, 2022

Is there a reason we need a new history of the American Civil War? Haven't many complete war histories, as well as books specialising on individual campaigns, battles, and war participants already been published? Yes, of course, but history has been constantly updated with discoveries of new records......more

Goodreads review by Porter on July 19, 2019

Elizabeth Varon is one of my favorite authors. Her books Disunion!: The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859 and Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War, are two the best books on the causes of the Civil War and its end. I enjoyed those books so much that this was......more

Goodreads review by Mike on February 23, 2022

This is a difficult book to rate for me. I think academically (scholarly) it is probably a 4/5. As my ratings on Goodreads are simply my enjoyment of a book - I give it a 3. I struggled getting through this book. The theme of the book is basically that Northerners felt that most Southerners were "du......more

Goodreads review by Steve on August 21, 2019

In every war there develops a predominant shared public perception of "who are the enemy?". Such views are most usually stereotypical and morally grounded, leading inevitably to dehumanizing the enemy. Our conception of the enemy informs our willingness to accept the sacrifice and loss that war brin......more

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