The Demon of Unrest

Author: Erik Larson
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, 2024
Pages: 592
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: 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.

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 Chestnut, 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 to avert a war that he fears is inevitable - one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans. 

Review: I loved Isaac's Storm so much, and was expecting the same sort of quick-reading, narrative non-fiction for this novel. I was wrong. It was interesting, but not a fast-paced thriller that just happened to be non-fiction. I think one would have to be really into the Civil War to stick this novel out. I liked it, and Larson certainly paints a picture and tells a story.