From the creators of the "Brown Paper School" books, this exciting series title recounts the Civil War, an epic and tragic era which shaped the history of the United States as no other event has since the country's inception. It was a painful period in which the rising tensions between the North and the South finally resulted in Americans killing one another. Families found themselves divided, and old friends became enemies. What were the reasons for this terrible crisis? By reading this book and participating in the varied and imaginative projects it suggests, students explore the reasons why the southern states decided to separate themselves from the Union and why the war was so bitterly fought, and gain insight into how the nation rebuilt and reunited after the war was finally over.