“Crofts’s study focuses on Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, but it includes analyses of the North and Deep South as well. As a result, his volume presents the views of all parties to the sectional conflict and offers a vivid portrait of the interaction between them.”—American Historical Review
“Refocuses our attention on an important but surprisingly neglected group—the Unionists of the upper South during the secession crisis, who have been too readily ignored by other historians.”—Journal of Southern History
“Reluctant Confederates tells us much about the political diversity of the Old South, and, especially in conjunction with important new works by Lacy Ford and John Inscoe, illuminates the ideas and social practices that nonetheless united it. . . . [An] important book explores topics usually ignored and discovers cautionary lessons for presentist historians.”—Civil War History
“An important new work . . . Most studies on the secession have concentrated on the Lower South, then quickly added the reluctant states after the war began. This study adds a great deal of information about the three states on which it focuses. It deserves to be read by anyone who has an interest in the fateful secession crisis.”—Journal of American History
