New book examines the role we all played in slavery

The Civil War, as taught to schoolchildren, is very cut-and-dry. Northerners were opposed to slavery; the South supported it.

But make no mistake, says author and professor Andrew Delbanco: The entire nation was complicit in this horrifically cruel part of American history.

After all, he pointed out in a recent interview promoting his new book, northern banks were financing the plantations that produced the goods northerners consumed or the raw materials that their factories processed.

Delbanco discussed more from The War Before The War on Morning Edition; you can listen to his conversation with Steve Inskeep below or read a transcript on NPR’s website.