The American Civil War occupies a privileged position in history. It was the greatest event in the life of the most powerful country the world has ever seen. Not surprisingly, therefore, it has attracted considerable scholarly interest, mainly from historians within the United States but also from many outside. This book is not intended to be merely another account of the years leading up to that seismic conflict, although the extraordinarily dramatic story is indeed told here. Instead it reinterprets the conflict, arguing that it was the almost inevitable product not of chance or “contingency”, but of the profound differences between North and South.

In the first century or so after the outbreak of the war, historians sought to explain what had gone wrong in 1861. They offered many interpretations, interpretations which are still sometimes endorsed today. At that time, however, many scholars made an assumption about the slaves of the South that no reputable historian would now endorse. The assumption was that the slaves were suited to slavery; African-American slaves, it was said, were naturally inclined to accept their enslavement.