The Civil War meant opportunity for many different groups of Americans, not just African-Americans but German-Americans too, historian and journalist Adam Goodheart says.

He will discuss these two groups in his lecture, "1861, a Year Prolific of Revolution: The Civil War Begins," at 11:35 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in Mayser Gymnasium, Franklin & Marshall College. It is free to the public.

Goodheart is the author of the 2011 best-seller "1861: The Civil War Awakening," which Publishers Weekly characterized as "emphasizing the cultural, rather than military, clash between those wanting the country to move forward and those clinging to the old ways." The New York Times said the book "creates the uncanny illusion that the reader has stepped into a time machine."