THE DEMON OF UNREST by Erik Larson

Erik Larson has a knack for turning history into a page turner.  Here he tackles the events leading up to the Civil War, chronicling Lincoln’s early presidency and paying particular attention to Fort Sumter, which Lincoln misspelled as “Sumpter.”  The commander of the fort was Major Robert Anderson, a 55-year-old former slave owner from Kentucky who sympathized with the South but whose loyalty lay firmly with the Union Army.  Communication between the fort and Washington, D.C., was unreliable and scarce, so that Anderson and his men were totally in the dark as to if and when they would receive reinforcements or even vital provisions, as they were running out of food.  Meanwhile, the surrounding Confederates were bringing in tons of artillery, all in plain sight of Ft Sumter.  Costly mistakes were made both at the fort and at the White House, to the point that the fall of Ft Sumter was not only unsurprising but basically a forgone conclusion.   It also became increasingly apparent that the two sides did not understand one another at all, and neither side expected or wanted a protracted war.  The South was convinced that cotton was an all-important asset and that slave labor was a requirement for cultivating it, or at least that was their justification for slavery.  Anyone who still believes that the Civil War was caused by any issue other than slavery needs to read this book.