Thank you. I've got to get up early tomorrow for a flight, so I don't have time to properly respond at the moment, but this was by far the most thoughtful and u

Thank you. I've got to get up early tomorrow for a flight, so I don't have time to properly respond at the moment, but this was by far the most thoughtful and useful response I've heard to this question, and I've read many books on the civil war, but most of what I've read is from the perspective of and about the educated elite (north or south) - most recently, I read Trudeau's "Like Men of War" and I think before that, Grant's memoirs. (come to think of it, I'm having a hard time remembering the last time I read a civil war book from a white southern perspective) - but while I was certainly aware of the fear of a slave revolution (a fear that seems rational, and was certainly universal among slave-owning societies, and that perhaps contributed to the fact that I only know of one long-term successful slave revolution, Hati) I just bought 'masterless men' and I'll read it on my flight tomorrow. I'll evaluate the rest of the books you cite later. But.. there needs to be something better than an upvote. Like an upvote you can give once a year or something. This was a really good, and really helpful comment.