History

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. Adam Goodhart was interviewed today on NPR talking about his book 1861. Interestingly enough, as the title indicates, it is only about the first year of the war. He stated that this was to leave the reader with a sense of uncertainty and expectation that was felt during that first year.

"When we think about the Civil War today, we see the entire arch of the struggle — sort of a great epic struggle — ending, of course, with the martyrdom of Abraham Lincoln," he says. "But by taking the one particular moment when everything was uncertain — when everything seemed to change overnight — I wanted to recover that sense ... of not knowing what's going to come next. And people didn't know in 1861 what was going to come next."

We should remember the time when our nation was fragmented and be glad that it has, through blood, been reunited for the greater good.