Why didn't the North let the South secede?

[Adsos Letter]

20. I agree.

Yes, both volumes of The Road to Disunion were on my reading list. I have to admit, I preferred the writing style in the second over the first, but I certainly enjoyed both. I remember thinking that his first couple of chapters in the second volume were fine examples of how overviews and introductions should be done, and too often aren't.

Two other works whose writing style I admire are: Eric Foner's Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, and Gordon Rhea's three-volume work on Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign. Technically, Rhea isn't a Historian but he performs like one of the best in making comprehensible, and engaging, all the complex of actors and actions in that series of battles.

I see from your profile that you are an ex-pat living in Switzerland. We were fortunate enough to spend a couple of weeks in Martigny a few years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience!