"On November 6\, 1860\, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds\; Southern extr emists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union\, with one state af ter another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled th e conflict\, but somehow the passions \;of \;North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter. . ..[An] account \;of \;the chaotic months between Lincoln's electio n and the Confederacy's shelling \;of \;Sumter--a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications\, enflamed egos and craven ambitions\ , personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials& nbsp\;of \;these five months were 'so great that\, could I have antici pated them\, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.' At th e heart \;of \;this ... narrative are Major Robert Anderson\, Sumt er's commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union\; Edmund Ruffin\, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity\; and Mary Boykin Chesnut\, wife&n bsp\;of \;a prominent planter\, conflicted over both marriage and slav ery and seeing parallels between them. In the middle \;of \;it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln\, battling with his duplicitous secretary \;of \;state\, William Seward\, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable--one that will eventually kill 750\,000 Ameri cans. Drawing on diaries\, secret communiques\, slave ledgers\, and planta tion records\, Larson gives us a political horror story..." \;
\nPlease join us for a discussion of this \;era in history. \;
\ n\nBorrow the book from PGCMLS: \;Print \;| Ebook< /a> | Eaudiobook | \;
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