The Field of Blood

Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War

By: Joanne B. Freeman

Narrated by: Joanne B. Freeman

This program is read by the author.

The previously untold story of the violence in Congress that helped spark the Civil War

In The Field of Blood, Joanne B. Freeman recovers the long-lost story of physical violence on the floor of the US Congress. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests. When debate broke down, congressmen drew pistols and waved Bowie knives. One representative even killed another in a duel. Many were beaten and bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance, particularly on the issue of slavery.

These fights didn’t happen in a vacuum. Freeman’s dramatic accounts of brawls and thrashings tell a larger story of how fisticuffs and journalism, and the powerful emotions they elicited, raised tensions between North and South and led toward war. In the process, she brings the antebellum Congress to life, revealing its rough realities - the feel, sense, and sound of it - as well as its nation-shaping import.

Funny, tragic, and rivetingly told, The Field of Blood offers a front-row view of congressional mayhem and sheds new light on the careers of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and other luminaries, as well as introducing a host of lesser-known but no less fascinating men. The result is a fresh understanding of the workings of American democracy and the bonds of Union on the eve of their greatest peril.

©2018 Joanne B. Freeman (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Enlightening

Especially interesting to listen to while driving through Kansas. Our country is both resilient and blessed. We are so lucky

The more things change...

A must-read for those into political history and government. The conflicts and sectionalisms of today pale with the going on in the mid 1800s.

An enthralling, sometimes shocking, account of the rough-and-tumble world of the antebellum legislative branch

Relying mainly on the first-hand accounts of a congressional clerk Benjamin French, Professor Freeman exposes the harsh and debated reality of partisan rivalry in the decades leading up to the Civil War.

Some of the fights the average reader will recognize from high school history, but this book plumbs deeper into the violent fault lines threatening to rend our early republic asunder.

A quickly-moving tale that will enlighten and surprise, this book may also betray our own modern tendencies toward partisan division, while showing us we may not be all that different from our forebears.

Having the author narrate adds something

Excellent book. Writing style, research, narration, all great. I really enjoyed the author reading it herself. Many times throughout the book one gets the feeling that she is holding back a chuckle at a particularly absurd incident. This closeness to the text is really refreshing and adds to the experience of listening. I am definitely going to look into her other works after listening to this one.

Inspiring book

Without getting involved in today’s politics, Freeman’s work helped me think about violence and today’s public and Congress. I really enjoyed the author’s performance of her work.