Politics and America in Crisis: The Coming of the Civil War

This book unravels the political developments that made the Civil War unavoidable.

Politics and America in Crisis: The Coming of the Civil War examines the developments between 1846 and 1861 that pushed the nation to war to see what they reveal about the North, the South, the people leading them, and the issues separating them.

As shown here, in the decade and a half before the actual outbreak of the war, the mostly southern Democratic Party's fortunes veered from a presidential election victory in 1852 to the shocking loss of Abraham Lincoln in 1860--an event that marked the coming of age of the young antislavery Republican Party. In examining that sharp reversal, Politics and America in Crisis covers a wide range of key events, including efforts to ban slavery in territories won in the Mexican-American War, the Dred Scott decision, and John Brown's raids.

Author: Michael Green
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 12/01/2009
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780275990954

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2010
Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2010 pg. 68

About the Author

Michael S. Green is professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.