The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson

Erik Larson delves into the five months between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the first shots fired on Fort Sumter that started the Civil War. In a period of betrayal, error, and miscommunication, Larson focuses on the stories of four individuals: Sumter’s commander caught between sympathy to the South and loyalty to the Union; a bloodthirsty radical promoting secession at every turn; the wife of a local planter who is conflicted about marriage and slavery; and in the thick of it all, is Abraham Lincoln, desperately trying to avert a war.