Out of the Storm is a moving and dramatic account of the final months of the American Civil War. In the spring of 1865, after four years of devastating conflict, the North and South had their final reckoning. For the men and women whose fierce determination to preserve their way of life had sustained the Confederacy, it was a time to confront the bitter truth that all was lost. For Abraham Lincoln, standing at the threshold of a long-awaited triumph, it was both a time to reconcile the cost of what had been won and a time to move forward, to rebuild the nation and heal its grievous wounds. Although most Civil War histories close with Lee's surrender at Appomattox, it took three more months to end this bloodiest of all American wars. These final months of struggle and change are explored in vivid detail in Out of the Storm. There are the final military campaigns of the war: Grant's pursuit of Lee; Sherman's death embrace with Johnston's army in North Carolina; and Wilson's relentless sweep through central Alabama and Georgia. There are compelling accounts of the tragic sinking of the steamboat Sultana (America's worst maritime disaster); the tremendous munitions explosion that leveled a large section of Mobile; the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the hunt for his killer; and the pursuit and capture of Jefferson Davis. Offering viewpoints of both North and South, Noah Andre Trudeau follows the domino-like collapse of the Confederacy, presenting poignant stories of individual courage and honor amid irrevocable chaos and change. This defining moment in the history of the United States has received surprisingly little study; it was a period of transition from a society at war with itself to a restored peace. Drawing upon an impressive body of personal reminiscences, memoirs, and previously unpublished material, Out of the Storm is a rich and memorable portrait of the last months of conflict. With this third volume, Trudeau completes his celebrated Civil War trilogy. Bloody Roads South, which won the prestigious Fletcher Pratt Award, recounted the fierce battle of Grant and Lee in Virginia in the spring of 1864. The Last Citadel was the first full-length treatment of the siege of Petersburg, Virginia. Now, Out of the Storm presents the final act of this profound epic in our history. Trudeau wonderfully concludes his Civil War trilogy ( Bloody Roads South , Fawcett, 1993; The Last Citadel , LJ 10/15/91) by looking beyond Appomattox. This affecting work explains the circumstances that led to Lee's surrender, but it also examines Lincoln's assassination, the single event that provided closure to the war. Detailing the tragic events that followed the actual fighting also provide a clearer picture of the postwar United States and its attempts to be one nation again. It is impossible not to be moved by the graphic descriptions of the sinking of the Sultana , the flight of Jefferson Davis, and the last battle of the war in the west. This is a fitting conclusion to a series that masterfully intertwines personal accounts with descriptive narrative. In the words of Lieutenant Colonel Branson upon hearing the last volley: "That winds up the war."-- Barbara Zaborowski, Cambria Cty. Lib., Johnstown, Pa. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Lee's surrender at Appomattox did not end the Civil War, either in a formal or a strictly military sense. Several months of often brutal fighting lay ahead, particularly in the trans-Mississippi region. At the same time, the now evident collapse of the Confederacy led to a flurry of political scheming and jockeying for position in both North and South. With a narrative that cuts back and forth between Union and Confederate armies, Trudeau provides a fascinating and often surprising glimpse at a generally neglected aspect of the war. At times, his narrative becomes confusing, but Trudeau is writing about an extremely chaotic and confusing time. Although he often portrays individual acts of heroism and nobility on both sides, the overall effect of this history is rather depressing; an army and a society in the throes of death aren't a pretty sight. For large collections. Jay Freeman National Public Radio producer Trudeau (The Last Citadel, 1991; Bloody Roads South, 1989), completing a fine trilogy of works about the Civil War, recounts the turbulent collapse of the Confederacy in the months following Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. ``General readers are so taken with the simple drama of Appomattox,'' Trudeau writes in his preface, ``that many continue to believe that the Civil War ended with that incident.'' Nothing could be farther from the truth, according to Trudeau: At the time of Lee's surrender, Confederate armies were still in the field in North Carolina, Alabama, and the trans-Mississippi, and it was far from obvious to the leaders of the North that the Confederacy would not continue to fight, even though the Richmond government had fled after the collapse of