Synopses & Reviews
One month in 1865 witnessed the frenzied fall of Richmond, a daring last-ditch Southern plan for guerrilla warfare, Lee's harrowing retreat, and then, Appomattox. It saw Lincoln's assassination just five days later and a near-successful plot to decapitate the Union government, followed by chaos and coup fears in the North, collapsed negotiations and continued bloodshed in the South, and finally, the start of national reconciliation.
In the end, April 1865 emerged as not just the tale of the war's denouement, but the story of the making of our nation.
Jay Winik offers a brilliant new look at the Civil War's final days that will forever change the way we see the war's end and the nation's new beginning. Uniquely set within the larger sweep of history and filled with rich profiles of outsize figures, fresh iconoclastic scholarship, and a gripping narrative, this is a masterful account of the thirty most pivotal days in the life of the United States.
Synopsis
It was a month that could have unraveled the nation; instead, it saved it. April 1865 is a gripping, panoramic narrative that takes readers through thirty tumultuous days in which the nation's future rested on a few crucial decisions and twists of fate. Here is the fall of Richmond, the rebel surrender at Appomattox, Lincoln's assassination five days later, and the tenuous beginnings of national reconciliation.
Jay Winik's brilliant narrative transforms what is often thought of as the epilogue to war into a pivotal moment in American history. This New York Times best-seller will forever change the way we see the Civil War's end and the United States's new beginning.
Jay Winik, writer and historian, has had a distinguished government career and is now a senior scholar at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs. A regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, his first book, On the Brink, a chronicle of the Cold War's end, won wide critical acclaim. He lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
"Magnificent ... A splendid combination of history, civics lesson, and biography, but Mr. Winik is also a marvelous storyteller." - Wall Street Journal
About the Author
Jay Winik, writer and historian, has had a distinguished government- career and is now a senior scholar at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal.Winik's first book, On the Brink,a chronicle of the end of the Cold War, won wide critical acclaim. He lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.