Booknotes: Let Us Die to Make Men Free

New Arrival:

• Let Us Die to Make Men Free: American Slavery and Civil War in Global Perspective by James E. Strickler (McFarland, 2026).

This book looks at slavery and the American Civil War "in the broader context of 19th century world history." In applying that global perspective, author James Strickler explores the question of why the U.S. was "the only country in the Americas" in which the issue of slavery sparked a civil war.

From the description: "Through the stories of 14 key individuals (seven from the United States and seven from other countries), the book compares developments in the United States with slavery in the Caribbean, secession in Hungary, emancipation in Russia, civilian deaths in China, nation-building in Germany, lynching in South Africa, and post-war reconciliation in Japan."

Drawing conclusions from those comparisons, Strickler's Let Us Die to Make Men Free offers ideas about "what made slavery and the war exceptional--and what did not--and how their legacies are felt today."