The South besieged Book

I hate giving this one three stars, since it discusses a fascinating topic, but the book seems half-baked. Good ideas are presented but only lightly discussed. Thompson also makes enough minor factual errors for me to question his all around understanding of the conflict. This topic needs another book. It does illustrate though the divided loyalties and ideas in the North, and how the one uniting goal was preservation of the union. This point is lost in our neo-abolitionist moment.