The British Gentry, the Southern Planter, and the Northern Family Farmer: Agriculture and Sectional Antagonism in North AmericaDrawing on the history of the British gentry to explain the contrasting sentiments of American small farmers and plantation owners, James L. Huston's expansive analysis offers a new understanding of the socioeconomic factors that fueled sectionalism and ignited the American Civil War. This groundbreaking study of agriculture's role in the war defies long held notions that northern industrialization and urbanization led to clashes between North and