A Changing Wind

In the Civil War, Atlanta was a thriving Confederate city, second only to Richmond in importance. A Changing Wind explores the experiences of Atlanta’s civilians during the city’s rapid growth, Civil War siege and devastation, Reconstruction, and emergence as a New South city. A rich account of residents’ changing loyalties to the Union and the Confederacy, the book highlights the economic and social impacts of the war and Atlanta’s stunning postwar rebirth. The final chapter focuses on Atlanta’s historical memory of the Civil War and how racial divisions led to separate commemorations of the war’s meaning.

Wendy Hamand Venet is a professor in the Department of History at Georgia State University. She is editor of Sam Richards’s Civil War Diary and lives in Decatur, Georgia.

Support: Civil War 150 lectures are presented through the generous support of Vicki and Howard Palefsky.