History, it's said, is written by the winners. Thus, one must look long and hard to find an account of the Civil War from the South's perspective. What was the primary cause for their secession and rebellion? When fewer than one in seven that fought owned slaves it was clearly not to preserve the institution. Why then? The reader may find it interesting that the South's president, Jefferson Davis -- from whose 1890 book "A Short History of the Confederate States of America" introductory chapters are included -- likened the South's struggle for independence with the country's break from Britain four score earlier. Written in 1895 for younger audiences, "History of the War for Southern Independence: The Story of the Confederate States" offers a rare perspective on what the North called "The Great Rebellion." Handier than the free PDFs on the web, this you can hold, bookmark, highlight and shelve. An inexpensive imperative for any history buff.