*A People's History of the Civil War* is "bottom up" history, illustrated with little-known anecdotes and first-person testimony. David Williams brings to life the brutal, mundane experiences of the war - such as the mutilated bodies which, in the words of one soldier, lay "thick as autumn leaves" over the fields after every major battle - and the harsh realities of battlefield medicine and wartime rations. At the same time, he gives us a moving and intimate glimpse into the personal acts of bravery and human kindness that helped to elevate a terrible fight into a sometimes-noble cause.

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