Topics include: Slavery and African Americans in Antebellum America, Causes of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Literature of the Civil War, Reconstruction and After in Art and Culture
The stage is set for war as the nation begins to tear apart. Opposition by the North to slavery in the South fuels a bitter debate, and the country wrestles with conflicts between the Union and States' rights. Commanding center stage are twering figures-- Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. From Harper's Ferry to Fort Sumter, the first chapters unfold in a conflict from which there would be no turning back.
An interview with James McPherson, Civil War historian, and the author of the Pulitizer Prize winning book, "Battle Cry of Freedom," discusses the origins of the Civil War, the connection of the Mexican War with the Civil War, and the legacy of the Civil War.
Vivid photos of Syrian refugees and camps as a result of the Civil War in Syria. Lynsey Addario is a photojournalist with the New York Times. She engages in an interview with Charlie Rose.