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

 

 I was surprised to find only one review of an Eric Larson book in this blog. I’ve read at least three of his ten nonfiction works including Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck, as well as Dead Wake that was reviewed by me in 5/18. Perhaps that because I read the first two before this blog was created. Frankly, I’m surprised I’ve not read more of his works which I’ve enjoyed immensely. His latest book, The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, which was just released this year, 2024.

 

Although I cannot claim to be a historian, my undergraduate degree was in history with an emphasis in American History. Since my graduation from college more than 50 years ago, I’ve continued to be an avid reader of this topic. In preparing for this review, I read a highly critical review of this work by Larson written by a historian and author, Alex Coe. While Ms. Coe had some reasonable comments, it seems to me that her opinions were an over-the-top attack on Mr. Larson’s work.

 

Mr. Larson began to do the research for this book even before the events of January 6, 2021, but it was watching the attack on the capital that further stimulated his writing. He himself was quite critical of current political figures who were commenting that the Civil War was not about slavery but was actually about states’ rights. However, he also clearly sensed the great angst that exists in the U.S. as the result of the current level of political turmoil. He thought that the chaos that exists now must be similar to what was occurring at the outset of the Civil War when a seemingly functioning and cooperative government exploded into a conflict of disharmony and bloodshed. He noted that there are people today who believe that a new Civil War is the only way our current conflicts will be resolved.

 

While being knowledgeable about the events that led to onset of the Civil War at Fort Sumter in the Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, I learned far more details in this book than I had read before. The book took place from the time just before Lincoln’s election in 11/1860 until Confederacy successfully captured Fort Sumter in 4/61, along with an impressive epilogue. He relied on communications between both Union and Confederate leaders and their subordinates, as well as other materials that were contemporaneously published during the same era.

 

I agree with Ms. Coe that Larson spent an inordinate length of time in describing the sexual improprieties of James Hammond, but such behaviors were not uncommon especially with regard to the sexual assaults on slaves by their owners. While Mr. Larson might not be recognized as an academic historian, and while his use of detail sometimes gets a bit tedious, he certainly provides enough information to establish his opinions. We do live in a politically troubled time, and Larson’s book is helpful in understanding some of the reasons for this level of turmoil in the country among people of radically different political perspectives who find it impossible to communicate with each other about those differences. He is not off base when he worries how we can achieve some resolution of those differences without resorting to a similar Civil War scenario.