Title: Not serious history, poorly organized
Review: I have usually enjoyed history written by non-academic historians like Nathaniel Philbrick, but Jay Wink's book was a tremendous bore. I'm familiar with the period, but not a Civil War buff per se, and I was extremely disappointed. The narrative is full of unsupported generalizations, attempts to get inside the head of historical actors without any documentation from letters or other sources, and attempts to wax poetic that wouldn't make it past a freshman composition professor. Professional historians have been trained to avoid these mistakes, but Wink falls head-first into every possible type of error. Finally, the book is poorly organized, throwing in a long section about Lincoln's upbringing only after 200 pages, completely out of place.
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