"In this comprehensive and innovative Civil War history, R. Douglas Hurt traces the decline and fall of agriculture in the Confederate States of America, the backbone of the Southern economy, which, alongside military strength, Southerners believed would ensure their independence. In a sweeping study of agricultural production and government policy, Hurt connects the disintegration of Southern agriculture with the region's waning power, while giving voice to the farmers and planters in the Eastern and Western Confederacy"--