A unique collection revealing the experience of Jewish soldiers and civilians during the Civil WarAt least 8,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. A few served together in Jewish companies while most fought alongside Christian comrades. Yet even as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the front lines, they encountered unique challenges.InJews and the Civil War, Jonathan D. Sarna and Adam Mendelsohn assemble for the first time the foremost scholarship on Jews and the Civil War, little known even to specialists in the field. These accessible and far-ranging essays from top scholars are grouped into seven thematic sectionsJews and Slavery, Jews and Abolition, Rabbis and the March to War, Jewish Soldiers during the Civil War, The Home Front, Jews as a Class, and Aftermatheach with an introduction by the editors. Together they reappraise the impact of the war on Jews in the North and the South, offering a rich and fascinating portrait of the experience of Jewish soldiers and civilians from the home front to the battle front.

Jonathan D. Sarna (Editor)Jonathan D. Sarnais the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and Chief Historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History. He has written, edited or co-edited more than twenty-five books, including American Judaism: A History, winner of the Jewish Book of the Year award from the Jewish Book Council.Adam D. Mendelsohn (Editor)Adam D. Mendelsohn is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town. He is the author ofThe Rag Race: How Jews Sewed Their Way to Success in America and the British Empire and co-editor ofJews and the Civil War: A Reader andTransnational Traditions: New Perspectives on American Jewish History.