The War Before the War

Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War

By: Andrew Delbanco

Narrated by: Ari Fliakos

Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

"Excellent...stunning." (Ta-Nehisi Coates)

The devastating story of how fugitive slaves drove the nation to Civil War.

A New York Times Notable Book Selection

Winner of the Mark Lynton History Prize

Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

A New York Times Critics' Best Book

For decades after its founding, America was really two nations—one slave, one free. There were many reasons why this composite nation ultimately broke apart, but the fact that enslaved black people repeatedly risked their lives to flee their masters in the South in search of freedom in the North proved that the "united" states was actually a lie. Fugitive slaves exposed the contradiction between the myth that slavery was a benign institution and the reality that a nation based on the principle of human equality was in fact a prison-house in which millions of Americans had no rights at all. By awakening Northerners to the true nature of slavery, and by enraging Southerners who demanded the return of their human "property", fugitive slaves forced the nation to confront the truth about itself.

By 1850, with America on the verge of collapse, Congress reached what it hoped was a solution - the notorious Compromise of 1850, which required that fugitive slaves be returned to their masters. Like so many political compromises before and since, it was a deal by which white Americans tried to advance their interests at the expense of black Americans. Yet the Fugitive Slave Act, intended to preserve the Union, in fact set the nation on the path to civil war. It divided not only the American nation, but also the hearts and minds of Americans who struggled with the timeless problem of when to submit to an unjust law and when to resist.

The fugitive slave story illuminates what brought us to war with ourselves and the terrible legacies of slavery that are with us still.

©2018 Andrew Delbanco (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“[A] sweeping and fascinating book . . . a long, festering story of political disunion, mapped through many voices. . . . Delbanco writes lyrically . . . and with a genuine sense of tragedy . . . The War Before the War presents a clear narrative of the legal and political history of [how], self-tortured by the slavery question, a ‘nation’ descended into disunion.”—David Blight, New York Review of Books

“A valuable book, reflective as well as jarring . . . Delbanco, an eminent and prolific scholar of American literature, is well suited to recounting . . . the most violent and enduring conflict in American history.”—Sean Wilentz, New York Times Book Review

“Delbanco . . . excavates the past in ways that illuminate the present. He lucidly shows [how] in the name of avoiding conflict . . . the nation was brought to the brink and into the breach. This is a story about compromises—and a riveting, unsettling one at that.”—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

Outstanding research, beautiful prose. 

Painful story because it tells a sad tale of centuries long greed, the plunder of Africa, the real cause of the American Civil War in great detail, and the legacy it leaves the present day .

Wow!

As a black American who has been confused about exactly why the civil war was fought. This book was the most concise account of what really happened that I’ve ever heard. It cleared up some myths and solidified some long held beliefs. It was so emotionally draining to hear the way my ancestors were treated. And to hear the unabashed truth of the feeling that persist in America to this day. Was absolutely mind blowing and should stand as a lesson to us all. If we don’t learn from our past mistakes we are doomed to repeat them. So much of what I see today in modern politics I thought was unique. Now I see is nothing more then the status quo that’s existed from America’s inception. There are those who felt America was theirs. And that black people are only fit to live in a permanent second class. This book spelled it out in spectacular fashion. The hatred, cruelty and injustice that white America inflicted upon my ancestors. While all the while fighting for it’s own freedom. And claiming to be a nation of laws that believes in God. Is the most jaw dropping hypocritical thing I have ever witnessed. Caste pride is a powerful drug that enables its partakers to justify anything. As long as the end result is they maintain a playing field. That mostly benefits them and that they can maintain strict control over. Unbelievably a vast portion of this country will even follow a demigod. Down the road to ruin if they think they and only they will remain in absolute power.

Learned a lot about that time when slavery existed

Notable personalities of the day were conflicted about slavery...or were quite decided. Very good read (listen). Don't think I'll think of Daniel Webster the same after learning of his duplicity in the Fugitive Slave Law.

I would give this 100 stars if I could

We all know how slavery has woven its way through our history into our present day tensions, but there has never been a more detailed, vivid account of the years leading up to the civil war. I learned so much. I became obsessed with listening to this book. I had to keep coming back. I’m sad that the book is over because I want to hear more about this.

I loved how first-hand accounts were woven into meticulously researched vignettes. It’s a beautiful and brilliant book that expands our understanding of a complex subject.

I’ve raved about this book to everyone I know. If you think you know the history leading to the civil war, you’ll still learn so much. You must listen to this book!

difficult, but necessary, history to understand

I came across this book as I was looking for literature to help me understand America's complex relationship with race. In particular, I recognized in knowledge gap in how our country transitioned from its original Union under the articles of confederation to a growing country ready to fight A-war largely great based on a State's rights to own another group of people.

Just of this book is that the fugitive slave laws served as a wedge that drove the slave owning states and the free states further and further apart. of course, the impetus for the civil war took decades to gain. traction. this book tells the story of the systematic efforts by individual states and statesmen to both protect their property and avoid complicity in what others felt was an abomination.

In between the politics the book describes true examples of how the laws directly impacted enslaved individuals and families and the efforts made to keep them enslaved.

this is a story worth knowing and reading. the more history I read the more room for improvement I realize our country has to make. I'm encouraged that we are a more equitable and just country than we were in 1776, 1787, 1820, 1850, 1865, or even 1968.

An excellent accounting of a historical tragedy

Andrew Delbanco's novel is one of the finest accounts of the horrors of slavery and how that institution propelled America towards civil war. Told in a narrative format that is as gripping as it shocking, Ari Fliakos does an excellent job of bringing Delbanco's story to life, and his pitch-perfect tone conveys the author's implicit lamentations on the era in a way that few narrators could match.

an excellent narrative and analysis

an excellent narrative and analysis of the years preceding the Civil War and beyond

Should be required reading in US

There are so many parallels to the dynamics of contemporary south/north rural/urban US. It had me thinking often of complicity with environmental destruction and mass extinction.

Filled in a huge gap in history for me

Liberal from the Northeast here. Slavery, bad. South, bad. This book didn't change that perspective drastically, but the moral and legal tussle, and gradual conflict was exquisitely unfolded in this book. The American Experiment is by no means perfect, and looking in the rear view mirror can be frustrating and very embarrassing, but the detail here helps make some sense of why war was inevitable. Great read.

All need to know this story; we still suffer!

We suffer as a nation because of the unfinished task. We shall overcome some day, PLEASE.