A Contest of Civilizations: Exposing the Crisis of American Exceptionalism in the Civil War Era (Andrew F. Lang - CH) Print but Custer’s baptism of fire

but Custer’s baptism of fire came during the Civil War

Instead of finding glory and victory—two objectives with which he was intimately familiar—Stuart reaped stinging criticism and substantial blame for one of the Confederacy’s most stunning and unexpected battlefield defeats

Of all the great “what if” scenarios in American history

a radically altered relationship with freedpeople

As the battle unfolds throughout the town

A Contest of Civilizations: Exposing the Crisis of American Exceptionalism in the Civil War Era (Andrew F. Lang - CH) Print but Custer’s baptism of fireby Andrew F. Lang Most mid nineteenth century Americans regarded the United States as an exceptional democratic republic that stood apart from a world seemingly riddled with revolutionary turmoil and aristocratic consolidation. Viewing themselves as distinct from and even superior to other societies, Americans considered their nation an unprecedented experiment in political moderation and constitutional democracy. But as abolitionism in England,