Professor McPherson's sample is not statistically random and it may be skewed in some ways. For example, the sample does not include (obviously) illiterate soldiers or black soldiers. It tends to be tilted in the direction of those individuals who did most of the fighting and who were committed to their respective causes. Professor McPherson recognizes that many of the combatants were unwilling participants, particularly as the draft was instituted in both armies and that both armies included many shirkers. These individuals are not represented in his sample of letters. But still, these letters, written in the activity of soldiering and not intended for publication, are revealing of their authors' thoughts and feelings in a way impossible to replicate in other writings.

The letters reveal much about the motivation of the combatants and about life in Civil War America. Professor McPherson finds that many of the soldiers in the Civil War had a firm idea of why they were fighting. On both sides soldiers fought for the preservation of liberty and the duty they perceived they owed to their country. Patriotism, in a word. Southern soldiers fought to achieve their independence and to avoid what they viewed as "subjugation" and "slavery". Northern soldiers fought to preserve the Union and, increasingly as the War progressed, to end slavery. Soldiers in both the Union and the Confederacy drew sustenance from religious convictions. They were motivated deeply by the camaraderie that developed with their fellows, particularly in their own units. In the Civil War in particular, soldiers fought side-by-side with others from their own state and community. They developed a strong bond with each other, based on the terrors of war and the privations of the camps, and fought in solidarity with each other.

The letters in the book speak well for themselves with Professor McPherson's organization and commentary. It is moving to read about how many Americans were driven by high ideals in enlisting and fighting in this, the most deadly and formative of the wars of the United States.

There is a sense of poignancy throughout the book. For the Civil War generation, concepts of duty, honor, family, manhood, and patriotism were not viewed with the skepticism that became common following WW I and that remains prevalent with many people today. It was a romantic generation, in part, but one with commitments and ideals. I think there is much contemporary Americans may learn by the devotion shown by the American Civil War soldiers and by the ideals of liberty, duty, and courage for which they fought.

For this work, Prof. McPherson also incorporates theories, reports, and research of the combat motivation, effects of combat, and psychology of men and soldiers in others war such as WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War, not to mention general medical studies from British, American, and German armies. In some instances, he uses modern knowledge to analyze the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers of the Civil War. As interesting as this is to show how soldiers in the Civil War had the same problems and feelings as most men of war, his academic findings illustrate how Civil War soldiers were also very different from soldiers in other wars.

The difference lay in their devout belief in their causes, and their sustained belief in those causes, and the close relationship with the men they fought with (which is a common thread for men of all wars), throughout the war. McPherson rarely goes on for more than a paragraph or two of his own narrating. He lets the voices of the men who fought take up 90% of the book, giving you a real sense of who these people were, and allowing the reader to derive an opinion for themselves, but always with McPherson's voice in the background guiding the reader, teaching you.

The causes brought up by the letters and McPherson are wide and varied, and McPherson makes sure to research each and explain as elaborately as possible, but quite noticable are the few main causes that men on both sides procliamed in verbose rhetoric. These consisted of Duty, Honor, Liberty, Independence, and the sustainment (US) or creation of (CS) a "free and independent country". For the CS the issue of slavery is brought up, but even though McPherson mentions it quite often and does what he can to explain, I did find some holes, most especially what yeoman farmers in general felt about the slavery and the strife, or what their exact definition of "states rights" (in relation to slavery) was. But that subject in of itself deserves it's own book, and I do not find that as derogative to the book at all, in fact it provoked my thoughts.

This may be strange to say, but while reading it, you feel safe. In other words, the research is so sound, so well documented, so well explained, that you feel like there is no way you are falling into a trap of propagandist, shallowly researched, or off the cuff revisionist history simply masked by some good prose. McPherson is a talented writer, making the read an easy and anticipated one for the reader (I read in 3 days, and I am NOT a fast reader), but he's also an astute historian who settles for nothing less than good hard research and logical and sound analyzation of his findings (thus a lengthy bibliography), without any sway of personal opinion; the book is entirely objective, and the bibliography in of itself is a great read (I've already read some of the books listed and recommended).

Read this book if you want a solid, incredibly well researched, and inspired understanding of the men who fought the Civil War. Hopefully you'll come away with new ideas for yourself and a new knowledge of the men who fought. McPherson muses that these men deserve a respect for fighting for goals and causes that were sustained only by their own willpower, conviction, and mainly their courage, amidst the blood and chaos of the War; and judging by what Prof. McPherson has found, that is something I can concur with.