In fateful lightning two time lincoln prize winning historian allen c guelzo offers a marvelous portrait of the civil war and its era covering not only the major figures and epic battles but also politics religion gender race diplomacy and technology and unlike other surveys of the civil war era it extends the readers vista to include the postwar reconstruction period and discusses the modern day legacy of the civil war in american literature and popular culture. Allen c guelzos fateful lightning is subtitled a new history of the civil war and reconstruction one naturally wonders what other than the publication date qualifies it as new unfortunately the volume lacks an introduction that might help readers discern an interpretive theme or innovative approach to the synthetic literature on the war. Fateful lightning is a sweeping history of the civil war the author covers the interaction between the major personalities in both the north and south in addition he covers the economic and political setting in the lead up to the war through reconstruction. Fateful lightning a new history of the civil war and reconstruction guelzo allen c 9780199843282 books amazonca. Fateful lightning a new history of the civil war and reconstruction description the civil war is the greatest trauma ever experienced by the american nation a four year paroxysm of violence that left in its wake more than 600000 dead more than 2 million refugees and the destruction in modern dollars of more than 700 billion in property