Erik Larson's latest work is a meticulously reasearched account of the volatile six months between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Through Larson's skill in storytelling, a famililar historical event reads like a political thriller. Although Erik Larson is not a historian by training, he uses primary sources to write his narrative like a historian. If history teachers would use his style of writing in teaching their classes, their classes would be popular subjects.
The book focuses on five key figures: Major Robert Anderson, the Union commander at Fort Sumter; Edmund Ruffin, a fervent secessionist who yearns for war; Abraham Lincoln, a recently elected president, and political rival Secretary of State William Steward, whose caution and indecision shaped the early days of the national crisis; and, Mary Boykin Chestnut, a Charleston socialite, whose diary portrays a personal perspective on the social and political climate during these months.
Larson effectively explores the increasing tension between the states that would become the Union and the Confederacy and how politics, personal convictions and egos, and miscalculations coalesced to ignite an internecine conflict. His ability to humanize this major event in American history make this book very readable.
The book focuses on five key figures: Major Robert Anderson, the Union commander at Fort Sumter; Edmund Ruffin, a fervent secessionist who yearns for war; Abraham Lincoln, a recently elected president, and political rival Secretary of State William Steward, whose caution and indecision shaped the early days of the national crisis; and, Mary Boykin Chestnut, a Charleston socialite, whose diary portrays a personal perspective on the social and political climate during these months.
Larson effectively explores the increasing tension between the states that would become the Union and the Confederacy and how politics, personal convictions and egos, and miscalculations coalesced to ignite an internecine conflict. His ability to humanize this major event in American history make this book very readable.