Navigation

If you arrive at the Homepage with a specific question in mind, you can go directly to the SEARCH window and relevant links will appear.  

Navigating the Site

Despite the vast amount of information on the website, finding what you want can be easy.

For those who arrive with a specific question in mind, the website operates much like Wikipedia. Thus the easiest path is to simply enter your topic on the Search Bar which appears at the top of the Homepage. For example:

Search: the Bill of Rights

Reply:  Click on Chapter 13 in the Prelude book to learn the details

But to navigate the full extent of what’s available, you can simply click on the Menu at the top of the Homepage which includes:

Books/Bibliography

Two complete books are currently available on the site:

* Prelude to War

* American Life in the 1800’s

With eleven others coming in 2006-7:

* America’s Four Political Systems

* Our First Sixteen Presidents

* The Congressional Branch

* The Supreme Court

* Statistical Tables: 1650-1860

* The Life of Lincoln

* Lincoln’s Journey to Racial Equality

* America’s Early Military Battles

* The 1861-65 Civil War

* Three Days at Gettysburg

* Other Global Conflicts

Here you can also find an extensive Bibliography which served as the scholarly basis for the books and facts throughout the site.

Photography Collection

One very unique feature of the website lies in the author’s unique private collection of over 3,000 original albumen photographs, some of which have never been published before. Taken by men like Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, George Cook, and Timothy O’Sullivan, all have survived for over 150 years old, most often in family albums. Roughly half focus on everyday people, places and events marking the American landscape. The rest bring the cataclysm of the Civil War itself back to life, in images of the Union and Confederate warriors who fought and the battles themselves.

All of the photos are watermarked, but may be copied as such for personal, non-commercial use.

To view the collection, simply tap on the topics below you wish to explore.

Other Resources

Look here to uncover more interesting content:

* Blogs on a wide range of topics covering the era. 

* A recommended set of other important websites to visit.

* And a host of Refresher Topics appearing weekly on the site: