The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, by Erik Larson (Crown, 592 pages, $35)
On February 22, 1861, Abraham Lincoln visited Philadelphia. En route to Washington, D.C., where he would take the oath of office and commence his duties as the 16th president of the United States, amid rumors of plotted assassination, the rail-splitter-turned-lawyer from Illinois visited the historic site from which patriots had declared 13 free and independent states in America. Drawn to Philadelphia for its historic significance, Lincoln also sought inspiration for the monumental task ahead: Since his November 1860 election on the Republican ticket, seven slaveholding states had severed political ties with the United States. Insurrectionists there had seized federal property. With the corruptible and ineffectual James Buchanan leaving office, the problems fell on Lincoln’s shoulders. These events, and the national conflagration that ensued, form the historical centerpiece of Erik Larson’s latest literary masterwork.
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