You can go months without hearing about many American wars and even when you do hear about them it's usually only as history. America's Civil War, however, is one that still defines America. As I write this, on Memorial Day of 2017, I can look at a newspaper within the past week that shows some people protesting as most others applaud the removal of statues of Confederate war figures in the South.
 It's good to know something about this war, and Doctorow's 2005 The March is a good way to learn about the tail end of it and its many issues. It depicts Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's campaign through the Confederate south, and gives a balanced view of both sides. Let's just say the Union Army was not made up of fair-minded heroes and southerners were not two-dimensional villains.
 They say history is written by the victors and that's true. For that reason, Doctorow's fictionalized account should be on the reading list of anyone interested in America's Civil War.
 An odd thing about the edition I read, by the way, is that it opens with a full five pages of excerpts from favorable reviews. Maybe the publishers thought it needed to psyche up readers to stick with it, but I don't think it was needed for a novel that had been a New York Times best seller.