Introduction
With the publication of this book on the Civil War, The How and Why Wonder Books extends a growing list of titles to the field of history. Children, parents and teachers who have learned to know these publications through the science titles will be pleased to know that books on other subjects are now included.
In an exciting way this book tells the how of the war as soldiers and generals engage in battle after battle in the North and in the South of our struggling, young Nation. In a warmly sympathetic mood, it also tells the why of the war, showing the way differences in beliefs, values and economic necessities led to conflict.
The personal and military strengths and weaknesses of Union and Confederate leaders are forthrightly portrayed as they have a bearing on the outcome of the war. You feel again the greatness of Lee and Lincoln. You sense the determination of McClellan, Grant, Stonewall Jackson and others. You feel human power at work as the war ebbs and flows and finally ends.
The How and Why Wonder Book of the Civil War is particularly appropriate at this time, for 1961 marks the Centennial Year of the Civil War. Children at home and at school will find it a useful and authentic account of the great human drama in which our Nation was engaged one hundred years ago.
Paul E. Blackwood
U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare Washington, D.C.
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