Nowadays there are rarely any books that interest me. Truthfully, some if not most books are just pieces of information the author uses to persuade you into understanding their point of view.  Updated version then come in order to further fix and add more persuasive information. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory by David W. Blight has sparked a tiny bit of interest in me. I’m not saying its enough for me to read it since I am very lazy but it’s unique amongst books, especially history books. The book gives you all sides of the story. In particular it gives you the African American stories which are usually forgotten in the mist of Civil War. Most are so bombarded with details of how the confederates and the unions killed it each that in the end when people are told about the freedom of slaves in countries, they think “this war was about freedom of slavery?”. This book addresses that problem by letting you remember vividly why the Civil War started and not just how it was fought.

Everyone would benefit from reading this book. It gives you more of an open mind about the book. You’re not persuaded into something, you can give your own decision and views based on the book. David Blight definitely liked the book. Otherwise he wouldn’t strongly write about the strong points of the book. He wouldn’t have told us the book focuses on some of the things left out in history or how it was different from other history books. The book tells us of the importance of historical memory. That the memories are the foundation of modern America and it gives better decision, tradition, and moral support to those of the future.