Gathering to Save a Nation

Engle has done more than anyone previously to survey the Union governors and make the case for their centrality." - Journal of the Civil War Era

"Engle offers a convincingly argued and well-researched volume that supplants Hesseltine's to become the definitive work on the subject." - The Lincoln Herald

"An amazingly well-weaved and balanced book, allowing the reader to appreciate the efforts 'back home' by the proactive governors, to first fill the early regimental ranks, but to support the Union soldiers through the fighting. I enjoyed it immensely!" - Civil War Talk

"Will stand for years as the book on Lincoln's relationship with the Union governors. . . . Essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand how the North mobilized to win the Civil War." - Journal of American History

"Will long stand as the authoritative account on Lincoln's wartime relationship with the governors and is essential to understanding how the North mobilized its society on the unprecedented scale necessary to defeat the Confederacy." - North Carolina Historical Review

"Offers a valuable and convincing corrective to a long-standing thesis on the war president and the war governors." - Indiana Magazine of History

"In a thorough and well-written study on a topic not covered in almost 70 years, Engle presents a much-needed reexamination of the relationship between Lincoln and the Union governors during the Civil War. Highly recommended." - Choice

"Will assuredly become the standard work on the subject of Lincoln and the Union war governors for generations to come." - Civil War Book Review

"Mr. Engle thoroughly covers a subject that has been analyzed in a piecemeal manner by prior historians, and in the process accomplishes the rare feat of adding something new to discussions of the Civil War." - Weston Democrat

"The definitive monograph on the relationship between federal and state government during the Civil War." - Journal of Southern History

"Should be read by anyone interested in the growth of federal authority, as well as political historians of the Civil War Era." - Civil War Monitor

"Engle's study is rich and deep, thorough and convincing. . . . Explores the changes that occurred as the war lengthened with care and complexity." - Emerging Civil War

"This book will be very useful for scholars interested in Lincoln, politics during U.S. Civil War, mobilization, and the relationship between the states and the federal government." - The Lincoln Herald

"Engle's book will be the indispensable source on Union governors for a long time to come." - The Annals of Iowa