The story of how Congress helped win the Civil War in a new perspective that puts the House and Senate, rather than Lincoln, at the center of the conflict.
... extraordinary ... With fluid, fluent style [Bordewich] encapsulates the period’s sweep, punctuating his broader narrative with colorful detail, bringing acerbic debates into clear focus ... Bordewich skillfully humanizes the back-and-forth that led to these decisions, portraying great men rolling up their sleeves and politicking, at times surreptitiously ... The author deftly draws his reader into the realities of late 18th-century America, animating settings and conditions that made life in general and political service in particular exasperating ... Bordewich writes in such a lively manner one feels like an uninvited but enthralled observer overhearing the debates of that auspicious assembly.
In his splendid Congress at War, the seasoned historian Fergus Bordewich...skillfully describes the continuing congressional effort to abolish the institution ... The author also describes frequent tension between the president and the radical Republicans ... These and other Americans, as Mr. Bordewich...remind[s] us, only by working in tandem finally succeeded in defeating slavery—the greatest moral victory the nation has yet achieved.
... offers insight into the overlooked legislative conflicts during the Civil War, deftly following legislators Thaddeus Stevens, Benjamin Wade, William P. Fessenden, and Clement Vallandigham, and bringing to life the personalities behind factions of Radical Republicans, Unionists, and Copperheads. Bordewich expertly shows how each faction wrestled with funding, equipping, and supplying manpower to what turned out to be a long and expensive war, and whether to authorize military enlistment and extend rights to African Americans ... Bordewich contributes an entertaining, fresh perspective to our ever-evolving understanding and discussion of the Civil War. An important addition for both general readers of American history and scholars of the growing interpretations of Civil War studies.
