Book review - "The Civil War" by Ken Burns

A book to accompany the famous Ken Burns series is very fine - a skilful text which encompasses the battle and focuses on the characters. It lacks hearing the voices and music and the "personal" aspect of the war - reading letters, the characters of Eli Rhodes and Sam Watkins, the stuff on slavery - has less impact than on TV, but it does have a stack of photos whoch are incredible. What an awful, hideous war - so many dead. (I know you could say that about any war but this one seems especially beastly.). Was the Civil War inevitable? It would seem so - slavery wasn't going to go away, like many in the North and South hoped. America was two different countries and they either had to split or one had to be dominant. Was the South ever going to win? Shelby Foote says not, pointing out the North fought with one hand behind its back. I agree it did that, but there was a strong peace movement in the North - a more united Democrat party and some losses by the North near the 64 election may have seen it all change. Or at least dragged on a bit longer. A moving, powerful book on a moving, powerful story.