The lawyer-historian Alan T. Nolan called the Civil War our "folk epic told over and over again." Robert Cowley reminds us in his excellent introduction to this volume that it was the Civil War that "finally brought us togheter as a nation, made us truly a 'union.'" "With My Face to the Enemy" is a provocative and wide-ranging anthology of essays on the Civil War, and a collection everyone interested in American history will want to read. It's thirty-six illuminating essays examines the war from the perspectives critical to its outcome-the larger-than-life personalities of the important players from Lincoln to Lee, and the national strategies and key battle tactics that shaped the four-year-long crisis. Contributors include the leading lights of Civil War scholarship: James M. McPherson, Stephen W. Sears, Gary W. Gallagher, David Herbert Donald, and seventeen others. James M. McPherson's essays ponder three diverse, yet fascinating subjects: Abraham Lincoln's use of language and its role in his victory; Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee's failed Southern strategies; and Ulysses S. Grant's race with death to complete the memoirs that are his most enduring monument. Stephen W. Sears, in four essays, describes the daring flanking maneuvers of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, and presents the last word on Lee's infamous "lost order," among other topics. Other highlights include David Herbert Donald on Lincoln's early command; Gary W. Gallagher on Lee's record before his ascension as a Southern icon; John Bowers on Stonewall Jackson and George H. Thomas, "The Rock of Chickamauga"; Noah Andre Trudeau on trench warfare in Virginia; and Thomas Fleming on the divided West Point, and much more.

Lincoln takes charge /David Herbert Donald -- Band of brothers: the West Point Corps / Thomas Fleming -- Ordeal of General Stone / Stephen W. Sears -- What took the North so long? / Williamson Murray -- Failed Southern strategies / James M. McPherson -- How Lincoln won the war with metaphor / James M. McPherson -- Grant's Tennessee gamble / Geoffrey Perret -- Malvern Hill / Stephen W. Sears -- Last word on the lost order / Stephen W. Sears -- Defending Marye's Heights / Joseph H. Alexander -- A hellish start to the year : the Battle of Stones River / Tom Wicker -- Stonewall Jackson's last march / Stephen W. Sears -- Antagonists of Little Round Top : the victor / Gideon Rose -- [The antagonists of Little Round Top] : the other man / Glenn W. LaFantasie -- Packs down-- -- Charge! : the frontal attack / Paddy Griffith -- When Lee was mortal / Gary W. Gallagher -- Stonewall enigma / John Bowers -- Lord High Admiral of the U.S. Navy: David Dixon Porter on the Mississippi / Joseph T. Glatthaar -- Grant at Vicksburg : a lesson in operational art / Joseph T. Glatthaar -- Hawk in the fowlyard : Jeb Stuart / John M. Taylor -- Rock of Chickamauga : George H. Thomas / John Bowers -- Considering Longstreet's legacy / Glenn W. LaFantasie -- Paladin of the republic : Philip H. Sheridan / Paul Andrew Hutton -- Andersonvilles of the North / Philip Burnham -- "Kill the last damn one of them" : the Fort Pillow massacre / Noah Andre Trudeau -- Boys of New Market / Geoffrey Norman -- Walls of 1864 / Noah Andre Trudeau -- Fiery trail of the Alabama / John M. Taylor -- Jubal Early's raid on Washington / Charles C. Osborne -- Crater / John M. Taylor -- Battle of Westport / Noah Andre Trudeau -- Second surrender : Bennitt's Farm, North Carolina / John M. Taylor -- Rebel without a war : the Shenandoah / Robert F. Jones -- Ulysses S. Grant's final victory / James M. McPherson.