After the Thunder: Fourteen Men Who Shaped Post-Civil War America

by Wilmer Jones

Beginning with the fall of Richmond and Lee's surrender at Appomattox, After the Thunder examines in detail the aftermath of the Civil War, following the lives of the leaders in the conflict as they found their way home from the battlefield to forge a new future from their war-ravaged past. Wilmer Jones profiles fourteen figures, revealing in intimate detail the characters who shaped the postwar Union while Americans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line faced the hardships of Reconstruction.

368 pages, Hardcover

First published April 25, 2000

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book delves into life for these fourteen men after the Civil War. We learn about their actions before and after battles, but not their lives afterward. Some events in their lives were very surprising while others were quite predictable. They savored their wartime successes but also faced many challenges, no doubt since memories for some are quite long.

[Monte Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a terrific premise which is to write about key Civil War military and political figures on what they did and how they fared after the war. Unfortunately, the book spends more time on what they did during the war and should have spent more time on what happened afterwards. That being said, you still get a good idea of the lives of these people during the years after the war.