United States.
America in the antebellum years was a deeply troubled country, divided by partisan gridlock and ideological warfare, angry voices in the streets and the statehouses, furious clashes over race and immigration, and a growing chasm between immense wealth and desperate poverty. The Civil War that followed brought America to the brink of self-destruction. But it also created a new country from the ruins of the old one—bolder and stronger than ever. No event in the war was more destructive, or more important, than William Sherman’s legendary march through Georgia—crippling the heart of the South’s economy, freeing thousands of slaves, and marking the beginning of a new era. J.D. DICKEY is the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Mud: The Secret History of Washington DC. He has written for the Independent and Daily Telegraph and has made appearances on C-SPAN’s Book TV and "The Takeaway" on PRI. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.