The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America

New York: Norton, 2018. 1st Printing. Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5x1x8. 1st printing. Remainder mark on page base, minor wear to corners. Binding tight and square, pages clean, bright, and unmarked. 2018 Trade Paperback. 640 pp. At the crux of America's history stand two astounding events: the immediate and complete destruction of the most powerful system of slavery in the modern world, followed by a political reconstruction in which new constitutions established the fundamental rights of citizens for formerly enslaved people. Few people living in 1860 would have dared imagine either event, and yet, in retrospect, both seem to have been inevitable.