Since few students will be well informed about military strategy, a lecture should be helpful. It might begin with an overall account making extensive use of maps. Show Union penetration south down the Mississippi, southeast through Georgia to the sea, and in northern Virginia. Show the Confederate thrust into Pennsylvania. The lecture might consider one battle or campaign in detail for its drama and its representative value. The choice will be influenced by the location of the college or university and the instructor's assessment of importance. Due care should be taken to balance strategy and bravery with lice and dysentery so that students will gain a proper perspective on mid-nineteenth-century warfare. The chapter bibliography in the text provides a wealth of leads for a military lecture. It is well to add that Allan Nevins and Bruce Catton's writings display particular verve and skill. For the texture of army life, see James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (1997), and William Watson, Life in the Confederate Army (1995).

The economic changes brought by the war were many and significant. Students need to understand that the war was simultaneously an economic stimulus and a retarding agent. Three topics in particular warrant special emphasis: the development of a national banking system, the development of northern industry, and destruction and dislocation in the South. See especially George Rogers Taylor, "The National Economy Before and After the Civil War," in Economic Change in the Civil War Era, edited by David T. Gilchrist and W. David Lewis (1967); Ralph Andreano, editor, The Economic Impact of the American Civil War (revised edition; 1967), especially Part 4, "The War and National Economic Growth"; and Bray Hammond, Sovereignty and an Empty Purse: Banks and Politics in the Civil War (1970).

For a hundred years or so after emancipation, the history of black people in the United States was perceived by whites as the history of a people to whom things happened. At last it became clear that blacks were historical actors themselves, not just in their own community but on the larger scene as well. Service by blacks during the Civil War on the home front, in the army, and in the navy deserves emphasis. See Dudley Cornish, The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army (1956); James M. McPherson, editor, The Negro's Civil War (1965); and Benjamin Quarles, The Negro and the Civil War (1953). See also Edwin S. Redkey, editor, A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African-American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861-1865 (1992).

The home front merits attention. The roles of those who remained behind were far from insignificant. In particular, women had to step into the breach as men departed. They organized and ran things with a skill poorly recognized by the men who returned. Consult Drew Gilpin Faust, Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996) and The Plain People of the Confederacy (1943); George W. Smith and Charles Judah, editors, Life in the North During the Civil War (1968); Mary Elizabeth Massey, Bonnet Brigades: American Women and the Civil War (1966); and J. Matthew Gallman, The North Fights the Civil War: The Home Front (1994).

The United States is not alone in the world, and students sometimes need reminding. The difficulty of maintaining amicable relations abroad while fighting at home was a matter of great concern for the Union. The importance of seeking recognition abroad was well understood by the Confederacy. Relations with Great Britain should especially be stressed, with emphasis on cotton diplomacy, British friction with the Union, and the possible consequences of a diplomatic break between the United States and Great Britain. Valuable essays can be found in Harold Hyman, editor, Heard Round the World: The Impact Abroad of the Civil War (1969). See also David P. Crook, Diplomacy During the Civil War (1975), and Frank J. Merli, Great Britain and the Confederate Navy, 1861-1865 (1970).