Most Americans imagine the Civil War in terms of clear and defined boundaries of freedom and slavery: a straightforward division between the slave states of Kentucky and Missouri and the free states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kansas. However, residents of these western border states, Abraham Lincoln's home region, had far more ambiguous identities-and contested political loyalties-than we commonly assume. In The Rivers Ran Backward, Christopher Phillips sheds light on the fluid political cultures of the "Middle Border" states during the Civil War era. Far from forming a fixed and static boundary between the North and South, the border states experienced fierce internal conflicts over their political and social loyalties. White supremacy and widespread support for the existence of slavery pervaded the "free" states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which had much closer economic and cultural ties to the South, while those in Kentucky and Missouri held little identification with the South except over slavery. Debates raged at every level, from the individual to the state, in parlors, churches, schools, and public meeting places, among families, neighbors, and friends. Ultimately, the pervasive violence of the Civil War and the cultural politics that raged in its aftermath proved to be the strongest determining factor in shaping these states' regional identities, leaving an indelible imprint on the way in which Americans think of themselves and others in the nation. The Rivers Ran Backward reveals the complex history of the western border states as they struggled with questions of nationalism, racial politics, secession, neutrality, loyalty, and even place-as the Civil War tore the nation, and themselves, apart. In this major work, Phillips shows that the Civil War was more than a conflict pitting the North against the South, but one within the West that permanently reshaped American regions. "[E]xcellent....This valuable book spans a century of history and weaves together several key themes of recent Civil War-era scholarship....Phillips offers much more than a synthesis in this deeply researched volume that draws on manuscripts from some thirty different archives; he also provides a richly detailed portrait of a region that came apart as its residents reevaluated and redefined their most cherished loyalties and beliefs. These findings will encourage scholars to rethink the terms and concepts we use to study a period in which North and South took on meanings that are obvious only in hindsight."--Michael E. Woods, Journal of Southern History "[A] sprawling account....Phillips' account of the middle border's Civil War is a welcome addition to a historiography of the Civil War that remains in many ways divided into North and South."--Nicole Myers Turner, The Michigan Historical Review "Previous historians have explored the violence and internal fighting in the West, especially in Missouri, but few have provided as detailed an account of the war's effects on the region or considered as carefully its cultural legacy Phillips's thoroughly researched and well-argued account presents an original and persuasive interpretation that deserves wide attention. The Rivers Ran Backward should become a standard work on the trans-Appalachian West."--Jonathan M. Atkins, American Historical Review "Phillips' expert command of Kentucky and Missouri history enables him to analyze incisively the war's impact in the Lower North...[The subfield's] most important and wide-reaching title to date."-- Civil War Book Review "[E]ssential reading for anyone interested in the American Civil War and its unforeseen consequences A 'sprawling' work, but one that conveys superbly the damage done by war to the diverse residents of a no less sprawling region that had once had grand hopes of saving the republic from the disastrous consequences of sectional conflict."-- Reviews in History "A masterful study of the 'Middle Border' region Easy dichotomies about the Civil War era are complicated by Phillips's rich, complex narrative Indispensable reading for students of the Civil War era."-- CHOICE "The region where five great rivers come together-the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Missouri, and Mississippi-experienced a civil war within the Civil War. Christopher Phillips' fresh perspective on this conflict offers new insights on the great American trauma that forged a renewed nation on the ruins of the old one. This book belongs on the shelf of everyone interested in the Civil War."--James M. McPherson, author of The War That Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters "Christopher Phillips has written one of the most important books on the Civil War in a generation. Massively researched-down to local church records-sparkling with original thinking, and deeply humane, The Rivers Ran Backward illustrates how Americans struggled over the stakes of the conflict, the definition of freedom, and the very idea of North, South