AllMovie

Based on the best-selling book by Jay Winik, this two-hour TV documentary meticulously breaks down the 30 days between April 1 and 30, 1865 -- in other words, the dying gasp of the Civil War. Within those 30 days, an American president was assassinated and another inaugurated, the vital Confederate stronghold of Richmond fell, and General Lee surrendered at Appomattox. The specials dwells upon the many "what-ifs" and curious twists of fate that might have turned the tide of the war to the South's favor, or might have prevented Abraham Lincoln from meeting his doom at Ford's Theater in Washington. In addition to reenactments and montages of vintage photographs, the program features interviews with prominent Civil War historians and theorists. Narrated by actor Powers Boothe, April 1865: The Month That Saved America was telecast as part of a widespread promotion for Winik's book.