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James M. McPherson, one of America's preeminent Civil War historians, returns to the Atlanta History Center to discuss his latest book, This Mighty Scourge, a collection of absorbing and insightful essays about one of the defining moments in our nation's history. This Mighty Scourge covers the broad spectrum of Civil War events, from an average soldier's love of newspapers to the postwar creation of the mystique of a "lost cause" in the south. The collection features the time's most captivating individuals, such as Harriett Tubman, John Brown, and Jesse James, as well as significant issues like Confederate military strategy, the failure of peace negotiations to end the war, and the realities and myths of the confederacy.

James M. McPherson is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom and numerous other award-winning volumes on the Civil War.