The paperback. Pub Date: 2011 Pages: 416 in Publisher: Harper Perennial Definitive and unsurpassed The Confederate Nation is the renowned history of the Confederacy by Emory M. Thomas (one of America's most eminent Civil War historians-of Richmond Times-Dispatch) . Thomas's masterful account delivers a clear analysis of the origins of secession. a gripping narrative of the military campaigns that shaped the Civil War. and a compelling portrait of the Southern people during the country's most turbulent era. Now featuring a new introduction by the author . The Confederate Nation is the quintessential exploration of the American South in the Civil War years.