Other than the brief excerpts that appear in documentaries and history books, we didn鈥檛 used to hear enough from the mouths of those who experienced the US Civil War. But the Library of America, a nonprofit publisher known for its elegant and comprehensive collections of American literature, has changed all that with its remarkable compendium of first-person articles, diary entries, speeches, and more. Each of their four Civil War volumes 鈥� including the final one, out this month 鈥� focuses on a single year of the war and gives participants and observers a chance to speak directly, from their hearts and minds to ours. The whole series is a national treasure.
