Says Columbia professor Stephanie McCurry in a piece published in Civil War Times in 2012: "We love our Civil War as no other people do. This fondness for the war, [...] is a peculiar but essential part of American culture. For better or for worse, our culture not only permits but encourages divergent rememberings of the war’s causes, principles, and consequences. That is why we can all love it…" This book echoes the voices of those who lived through that time, and aspects of American life since. The poems are the observations, retellings, and statements by the author, incorporating the words of soldiers, civilians, and dignitaries, then and now.