American Negro Slavery: A Modern Reader Book

I started reading this over 2 years ago. I finally finished. It is an amazing book, well-researched and really takes you into the world of the southern slaveowner, as well as to northern rivals. It is a dense book with many quotes. Four chapters in particular were outstanding: Chapter 4, 15, 16, and 20. Provided tremendous insights into what seems to be the heart of the war for Southern Independence: namely the battle over the Bible. While slavery was the issue, the cultural differences between the North and South were vast and differences over the authority of the Scriptures were sources of the these differences. In many ways, the Civil War was a religious war.