The Demon of Unrest: Abraham Lincoln & America’s Road to Civil War

Enjoyed the whole thing. It's a hard topic and Larson made it interesting throughout. I'd describe it as instructionally direct and articulate. Learned much more than I ever expected. Larson deeply filled one of the gaps in my understanding of the period leading to the war.

Outstanding exploration of this small minute leading up to the revolution.Microscopically detailed, bringing the reader into the most minute and grinding details of those virtually imprisoned in the Fort.Covers thoroughly the misperceptions of those involved, on both sides. I've read a number of sound books on the topic, but this one brings one face-to-face with the thoughts, perceptions, context of understandings, of specific participants, as well as the general publics.What stuck me most, in the context of current events involving the Supreme Court of our day, is the influence that one corrupt? ill-intentioned? biased Supreme Court judge had on the overall progress towards a continuingly divisive national war.And the enduring nature of its ... evolution. The tenacity of the under-lying myths and false values.Another excellent work by Mr. Larson--I'm grateful.

Full of detail about the events preceding the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter. The author has extensively researched the topic and provides a compelling story of characters both familiar (e.g. Abraham Lincoln) and not who contributed to the events unfolding in late 1860 and early 1861. The book is written in a highly engaging format and is hard to put down.

Erik Larson is one of the outstanding authors of current times. His analysis of history and his unique manner of expressing events if truly remarkable.In this book, Larson deals with the deep unrest which permeated the United States at the time of the accession of Abraham Lincoln to the U.S. Presidency.Larson's timing of the retelling of the deep schism in American Society in 1861 is in perfect juxtaposition with the deep unrest in American Society today. The demon is in the details.This is a truly remarkable book!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I grew up in Pennsylvania, just outside Gettysburg, but have lived in Charleston, SC for over 10 years now and in SC for over 20. I found the author's bias toward southerners - their attitudes toward Yankees (yes, it's still a thing), their idea of honor, their society structure, etc. - all very accurate and very obviously telling. The author made no qualms of making his belief that the Civil War was exclusively based on the protection of slavery well known in the book. However, in Charleston the belief is (still) that they were fighting for State's rights and to protect their way of life, not necessarily to protect their right to own slaves. Larson truly hit the nail on the head with the dichotomy of the war's driving force and couldn't have more accurately captured the attitudes of those times and still now.Fort Sumter was vividly described and easily allowed readers to visualize the site, even for those who have never been here in person. My only negative for the book is that I felt some of the side stories could have been minimized just to keep the focus on the war. Ms. Mary Chestnut's storyline in particular I didn't feel contributed much to the story of Fort Sumter and the start of the Civil War, but would be an excellent basis for any number of spin-off stories about life in that era and/or in Charleston.If I could give this book a 4.5 out of 5, I would. Larson's research was impressive and obviously thorough. My only point deduction comes from the length that I think could have been cleaned up a little bit. Otherwise, this is a very worthy investment of time for history lovers!