Ecstatic Nation by Brenda Wineapple
Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848–1877 by Brenda Wineapple, faculty, Creative Writing at The New School.
HarperCollins, 2014
From the publisher: “For America, the mid-nineteenth century was an era of vast expectation and expansion: the country dreamed big, craved new lands, developed new technologies, and after too long a delay, finally confronted its greatest moral failure: slavery. Award-winning historian and literary critic Brenda Wineapple explores these feverish, ecstatic, conflicted years when Americans began to live within new and ever-widening borders, both spiritual and geographic; fought a devastating war over parallel ideals of freedom and justice; and transformed their country, at tragic cost, from a confederation into one nation, indivisible.
A masterful synthesis of political, cultural, and intellectual history, breathtaking in sweep and scope, Ecstatic Nation is a spellbinding tale of America — its glory and greed, its aspirations and humiliations — in this exhilarating and momentous period.”
“A splendid new history of the Civil War period. . . . Wineapple brings alive the vibrant, imperfect people behind the issues. . . . A masterly, deeply moving record of a crucial period in American history.” —David S. Reynolds, « OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu | Listening for Lucca by Suzanne LaFleur »