"The American Civil War -- April to April, Sumter to Appomattox, 1861 to 1865 -- pervades the national conscience....It makes a great story...," writes Shelby Foote in his foreword to this volume. "I know of none since the Iliad that rivals it either in drama or in pathos...."

The Blue and The Gray tells that story, the epic of the first great modern conflict. In so doing, it raises issues still of urgent concern in many lands today: What unifies a diverse nation? What justifies the formation of a new one? What sustains democracy and law in the range of the guns? What peace can follow the loss of 600,000 lives?