Abstract
The following is an assessment of historical interpretations of Pennsylvania's Civil War in modern literature on the subject. Readers should not expect to see the results of archival discovery or of research in original sources in this article. Nor is this meant to be a bibliography. It is, rather, an appraisal of the problems of interpreting Pennsylvania's role in the Civil War and of the solutions to the problems offered by modern historical writing on the subject. The military contribution of Pennsylvania to the Civil War is likewise beyond our reach here. The bibliography on the Battle of Gettysburg alone would swamp this little article. The focus will be decidedly on the home front—on politics, society, and the economy.