Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood

Union is a book about slavery in the civil war, without focussing on slavery. The focus is instead on a few key "influencers" of the time. 

William Gilmore Simms was a popular southern novelist before the Civil War. He was very pro-slavery and pro-South Carolina. He was later "cancelled" because of these views.

George Bancroft was a historian that originated many of the "myths" we have of the early history of our country. He later served in the national government. He did not think much of Lincoln when he first met him.

Frederick Douglas was born into slavery, but learned to read. He became famous on the abolitionist circuit. He at times was stuck "doing the will" of others, but did manage to be "independent" and focus on his core ideals. He was even appointed to US government offices.

Woodrow Wilson is treated the most negatively. He was a southerner, and was often a traitor to the cause of the blacks that supported him. He led to Jim-Crowification of the national government. His League of Nations failed to be achieve its desired results in part because of the reluctance to treat all races as evil. His scholarship is criticised as being lazy and unoriginal. 

Frederick Jackson Turner supported the "frontier thesis". The frontier helped to mold the common American identity. The challenges involved helped to unify a diverse population. Alas, this could also explain the disunity. Without a western frontier, there is not the strong unifying force that had previously existed.

Thomas Dixon, Jr. wrote a novel glorifying the KKK. The organization had briefly lived after the Civil War. But had pretty much become extinct. D.W. Griffith would buy the book to make a movie, Birth of a Nation. The film was very controversial at the time. It glorified the south and the Klan. Southerners would use this as an example for the resurrection of the clan. The movie was one of the first "full length" motion pictures and had extremely high production values. 

There were various infighting at the time. Many states still had allegiance to their state first and foremost. (Somewhat similar to the EU of today.) There were desires to expand the US into all of North America. There were organizations advocating voting rights for all races as well as for women, with conflicts among the groups. The northerners wanted to "force" the south to do integrate, but that would require a wholesale change in the culture. With a wholesale change, some resorted to mob violence. There were also many northerners who behaved badly in trying to get the south to behave.