© 2025 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service since 1975
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Register to attend the 50th anniversary and Constitution Day events! (click the title)
Sept. 16, 5:30 PM Raising Politically Engaged Kids
Sept. 17, 11 AM The Constitution: From Principles to Practice - 5:30 PM The First Amendment Under Stress
Sept. 18, 6 PM Radio That Listens to You: 50 Years of NPR Illinois

How untold stories of the Civil War help make sense of today's political division

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom
Published September 10, 2025 at 10:49 AM CDT
The cover of "Midnight on the Potomac" and author Scott Ellsworth. (Courtesy of Dutton and Jared Lazarus)
/
The cover of "Midnight on the Potomac" and author Scott Ellsworth. (Courtesy of Dutton and Jared Lazarus)

A historian shatters myths from the last, desperate months of the Civil War to help us better understand the deep division in our country now.

Here & Now‘s Sarah McCammon speaks with Scott Ellsworth. His latest book is “Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination and the rebirth of America.”

Book excerpt: ‘Midnight on the Potomac’

By Scott Ellsworth

Reprinted with permission from the publisher, Dutton. All rights reserved.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2025 WBUR
Here & Now Newsroom