While the authors do share many similar views, many simply do not apply to each other. In conclusion, both of these books play a vital role in understanding the complexities of the Civil War and race relations during and after the Civil War. One takes a more scholarly approach, while the other takes a more storytelling approach. Both use intensive research and knowledge of the Civil War period to make their cases, and both belong on the bookshelf of any serious Civil War historian. McPherson's work is a bit easier to read, simply...

(1976). Slavery: A problem in American institutional and intellectual life. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
McPherson, J.M. (2001). Ordeal by fire: The Civil War and reconstruction. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Roberts, K. African-Virginian extended kin: The prevalence of West African family forms among slaves in Virginia, 1740-1870. Retrieved 8 Feb. 2008 from the Virginia Tech Web site: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-/unrestricted/etd.pdf.