Compares the military strategies of Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln, suggesting that the Union could have won much earlier had they followed the grand plan of George B. McClellan.

Maps include McClellan's Grand Plan, August 1861; Johnston's Long Kentucky Line, Winter 1861-1862; Area of Western Campaigns; Area of the Virginia Campaign; Region of Buell's Advance and Mitchel's Operations, Summer 1862; Confederate Offensives, Summer-Fall 1862; Strategic Situation, December 1862; Vicksburg Campaign; Gettysburg Campaign; Strategic Situation, Mid-August 1863; Grant's Plan - Spring 1864; Union Moves - Spring 1865.

Policy and war -- The sinews of war -- Mr. Lincoln goes to war -- The border states: policy, strategy, and civil-military relations -- McClellan on top: Union strategy, July 1861-October 1861 -- Union strategy: November 1861 to March 1862 -- The foundations of naval strategy -- The war in the West: breaking the cordon -- A new year and a new strategy -- War in Virginia -- Confusion in the West: the summer of 1862 -- The tyranny of time -- Facing the arithmetic: escalation and destruction -- The enormous proportions of war -- Vicksburg and exhaustion -- The cruel summer of 1863: the Gettysburg campaign -- The autumn of 1863: playing the deep game -- The siren song of Tennessee: the winter of 1863-64 -- Decision and desperation: 1864 -- The full fury of modern war -- War termination -- Conclusion: in war's shadow.