The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Splendid and the Vile offers a gripping account of the run-up to the Civil War in this “riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult” (Los Angeles Times).

“This is Erik Larson at his best . . . an irresistible thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal

Master storyteller Erik Larson brings to life the pivotal five months between Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860 and the Confederacy’s shelling of Fort Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’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 of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. 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 Americans.

Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.

Story Locale:Charleston, SC

Publication History:Crown HC 4/24