The period of 1860 to the early 1900 was a period where the human cost of the civil war in the United States was immense more than 2.3 soldiers fought in the war and perhaps as many as 851.000 people died in 1861-65.
The literature was presented as detailed and unembellished vision of the world as it truly was. This was he essence of realism and the naturalism was intensified from of realism.