Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America

William C. Davis, "one of the best and most prolific historians of the American Civil War" (James M. McPherson, author ofBattle Cry of Freedom), offers a definitive portrait of the Confederacy unlike any other.Drawing on decades of writing and research among an unprecedented number of archives, ranging from the 800-odd newspapers in operation during the war to the personal writings of more than 100 leaders and common citizens, Davis reveals the Confederacy through the words of the Confederates themselves.Look Away!recounts all the epic sagas -- as well as those little-known and long-forgotten -- about a desperate government that socialized the salt industry, rangers and marauders who preyed on their fellow Confederates, and the systematic breakdown of law and order in some states. A dramatic, definitive account of one of our nation's most searing episodes,Look Away!shows us a South divided against itself, unable to stand.

William C. Davis is the author or editor of dozens of books on the Civil War, most recently An Honorable Defeat: The Last Days of the Confederate Government. He is the only three-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Prize for Confederate history. Currently the Director of Programs at the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, he lives in Blacksburg, Virginia