Book overview If you went to school in the United States, you probably learned about the Civil War – but this book won’t be like what you learned in history class.

Maybe your teacher took the controversial stand that the Civil War was all about states’ rights… or maybe you learned all about the horrors slavery, but never quite figured out why things didn’t get better after the war ended.If you didn’t go to school in the United States, things are even more confusing.

When the media is full of references to the Confederate flag, the legacy of slavery, and poverty in the American South, you might have a vague sense that things are bad because of the Civil War… but why? Why does a war that happened over a hundred and fifty years ago still cast a shadow over the United States?