This rich trove of art and literature from the American Civil War documents the nation's most cataclysmic ordeal through the poignant impressions of those who lived it. The motives and emotions of both North and South come alive in the writings of Stephen Crane, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Frederick Douglass; speeches, memoirs, diaries and soldier's letters; and front-line photos. 210 illustrations, 120 in color.