Editor's Overview

Our third issue of 2020 tackles an important but sometimes underexplored area of political history in the Civil War era: conservatism in the Civil War North. Frank Towers and Andrew Wiley, who guest-edit this issue, highlight how the scholarship has evolved as the changing historical meaning of conservatism has subsequently evolved in American political consciousness. Adam Smith follows the rise of American conservatism from the Mexican War to secession. Matthew Mason explores the political battles between Whigs and Democrats in the aftermath of the Compromise of 1850. Joshua Lynn tackles how political theory has treated the idea of conservatism, and Erik Alexander explores the 1866 National Union Convention. In their introduction, Frank Towers and Andrew Wiley offer more insights into the articles within this issue.

In recent years, a number of scholars have undertaken projects designed to contextualize and analyze the state of field or the scholarly debates raging therein. Reviews of Gary Gallagher and Elizabeth Varon's New Perspectives on the Union War and William J. Cooper's Approaching Civil War and Southern History offer important insights to the places of these works as part of the larger and increasingly diverse historiography on the Civil War era. Interspersed between these pieces, readers will find reviews of books focused on an array of interconnected subjects. Volumes by Gary J. Kornblith and Carol Lasser, Sean Wilentz, Loren Schweninger, and James G. Mendez provide a dynamic look into the issue of race in America before, during, and after the Civil War, and studies by Michel Gobat, William S. Kiser, and Katharine A. Burnett place Southern history within a larger, global context. The section concludes with a review of Paul D. Escott Rethinking the Civil War Era: Directions for Research, which offers some concluding thoughts on the future of the field.

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Note: In the September 2019 issue of Civil War History, on page 256, a typographical error appeared reagrding the publication date of Red Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals. The date should be 1864 rather than 1654. We regret the error.