The Demon of Unrest

A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

De: Erik Larson

Narrado por: Will Patton, Erik Larson

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War in this “riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult” (Los Angeles Times).

“A feast of historical insight and narrative verve . . . This is Erik Larson at his best, enlivening even a thrice-told tale into an irresistible thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal

A PARADE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.

Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election 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 of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

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 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 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.

Outstandingly account Of the period of time before the attack on Fort Sumter in the words of diarists and records of that time.

The book is about a time and place which rarely get this much focus. It covers the days after Lincoln has been elected and the nation is threatening to split over the issue of slavery. You will learn about the upper class land owners pushing for secession and the garrison at Fort Sumter and its commander Colonel Anderson. The best part (aside from being read by Will Patton) are the words of the people and lived and wrote about the times. Mary Chestnut, in particular, was and insightful chronicler of the times and an acerbic wit as well.

I’ve read many books about the Civil War including “A Team of Rivals” and appreciate the scope of this book.

Very like today (but no chivalry)

Narrator very good. Detailed history I missed in school. Very compelling. Descriptions vivid. Thank you.

Good but distracting performance.

Reader distracted from the book by what to me was an annoying style of delivering every sentence breathlessly, and affecting accents for some passages. A more straightforward style would have been better.

Amazing history with parallels to today

This is my fifth Larson read and among the most enjoyable. There are similarities to the divisions of that time and those we see today. Larson’s impeccable research teases out details to make the story come alive. The performance by Will Patton is a ten!

Honor must be demonstrated, not proclaimed.

This work focuses on the naivete that overcame warnings of the real dangers ahead. This struggle seems to me to be one of the central themes of history.