"Enormous numbers of boys and youths served in the American Civil War. The first book to arrive at a careful estimate, Of Age argues that underage enlistees comprised roughly ten percent of the Union army and likely a similar proportion of Confederate forces. Their importance extended beyond sheer numbers. Boys who enlisted without consent deprived parents of badly needed labor and income to which were legally entitled, setting off struggles between...

On July 18, 1863, six months after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the first American units composed of African Americans stormed Fort Wagner in South Carolina. Twenty years later, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens began work on a memorial for this heroic troop. This book explores the significance of this monument.