The Confederacy

Paul EscottÕs The Confederacy: The Slaveholders' Failed Venture offers a unique and multifaceted perspective on the United StatesÕ most pivotal and devastating conflict, examining the course of the Civil War from the perspective of the Southern elite class, who were desperate to preserve the Òpeculiar institutionÓ of its slave-based economy, yet dependent on ordinary Southerners, slaves, and women to sustain the fight for them. Against the backdrop of the warÕs military drama and strategic dilemmas, The Confederacy brings into sharp focus the racial, class, gender, and political conflicts that helped destabilize the Confederacy from within. Along the way, Escott shows how time and time again, the SouthÕs political and economic elite made errors that further weakened a South already facing a Union army with greater numbers and firepower.