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    The Road to Disunion: Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant, 1854-1861
    The Road to Disunion: Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant, 1854-1861
    The Road to Disunion: Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant, 1854-1861
    Audiobook25 hours

    The Road to Disunion: Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant, 1854-1861

    Written by William W. Freehling

    Narrated by Charles Constant

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Here is history in the grand manner, a powerful narrative peopled with dozens of memorable portraits, telling this important story with skill and relish. Freehling highlights all the key moments on the road to war, including the violence in Bleeding Kansas, Preston Brooks's beating of Charles Sumner in the Senate chambers, the Dred Scott Decision, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, and much more. As Freehling shows, the election of Abraham Lincoln sparked a political crisis, but at first most Southerners took a cautious approach, willing to wait and see what Lincoln would do-especially, whether he would take any antagonistic measures against the South. But at this moment, the extreme fringe in the South took charge, first in South Carolina and Mississippi, but then throughout the lower South, sounding the drum roll for secession. Indeed, The Road to Disunion is the first book to fully document how this decided minority of Southern hotspurs took hold of the secessionist issue and, aided by a series of fortuitous events, drove the South out of the Union. Freehling provides compelling profiles of the leaders of this movement-many of them members of the South Carolina elite. Throughout the narrative, he evokes a world of fascinating characters and places as he captures the drama of one of America's most important-and least understood-stories. The long-awaited sequel to the award-winning Secessionists at Bay, which was hailed as "the most important history of the Old South ever published," this volume concludes a major contribution to our understanding of the Civil War. A compelling, vivid portrait of the final years of the antebellum South, The Road to Disunion will stand as an important history of its subject.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 13, 2018
    ISBN9781541446274
    The Road to Disunion: Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant, 1854-1861

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    Reviews for The Road to Disunion

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    • 4/5
      A very good, yet very oddly written book. Certain topics relating to US history are examined as if under a microscope with mind-numbing detail, yet other seemingly important topics are just about ignored. As in, it would be just about impossible from this book to realize that the USA fought a war with Mexico in the 1840s or that one of the chief complaints of Southerners was Northern inspired tariffs. But what it does look at, it does a very good job with. The material on the demographics of South Carolina and other "black belts" alone makes this one worth the price of admission. I will go so far as to say that this one does not stand alone, nor that it is really for the general reader looking to plug some gaps in their knowledge of US history.
    • 4/5
      Great Research!The folks here are 100% right about the author's writing style. At times one is forced to reread a sentence to catch the meaning the prose is so obtuse.I believe Mr. Freehling was attempting to develop a catchy rhythm and a "style" but it never quite gels. At times he takes what would be an easily understood, colloquially worded sentence and inverts it so that it almost seems foreign to an English oriented audience (imagine a prose constantly using wording such as "down he sat" as opposed to "he sat down").He also has an annoying tendency of attempting to create catch phrases that he uses over an over again even when the situations described don't quite fit with the original usage of the word he coins. The style, mannerisms, and conventions he used in writing this tome slows down the pace, seems forced and detracts from the work. Mr. Freehling would do himself better to just write the narrative in a less "stylized" manner.However, that being said, those who have said this is a book that shouldn't be missed are also correct. The research the author put into this book is voluminous and comprehensive. He brings quite a few things home well and leads the reader to a much better understanding of just how complicated the slavery issue really was in antebellum America.His description of the various "Souths" that developed between 1780 and 1853 is fascinating and illuminating. His treatment of the Texas annexation issue was fantastic. With such wonderful research, I cannot wait for Vol. 2, but I hope Mr. Freehling jettisons his muddled writing style before he begins the next installment.This is a highly recommended work. But don't imagine it is light reading.