Ordeal of the Union. By Allan Nevins. First Two Volumes. First Editions, First Printings. Scribners. New York, 1947.

Allan Nevins was an American historian who wrote a prolific number of histories and biographies in the twentieth century. He won two Pulitzer Prizes in Biography, a National Book Award for History, and many other prizes. Among his many works, Ordeal of the Union is one of the most comprehensive and popular. It is the history of the Civil War told from its long onset through its conclusion. Among Civil War histories, it ranks high alongside works by Carl Sandburg and Shelby Foote. It took Nevins several decades to complete. The full series is eight volumes. These two are the first in the series–Fruits of Manifest Destiny and A House Dividing. They recount America’s history in the decades before the war began. Through these volumes, Nevins argues that the rapid growth of the nation and its deep cultural and economic fissures from its founding would set the stage for the Civil War.

These volumes are the first editions, first printings of the first two installments of what would become an eight-volume series. They are in near-fine condition. In the original red cloth, near-fine with only minor fading to gilt and bumping to edges. Text blocks fine. Nevins portrait pasted to half-title page of volume I. In the original slipcase, about-fine with only bumping, chipping, and minor soiling. 

A near-fine first edition set of Ordeal of the Union.