The Demon of Unrest

This is different from my usual reading as I don’t typically care for war books. There were two things that made me want to read it (besides all of you who recommended it!). First of all, I love Erik Larson – he is one of my favorite authors. You might know this, but Devil in the White City is among my most favorite books; perhaps THE favorite! Second, Charleston. There is so much history (a lot of it really awful) of my new city; I enjoyed (not sure that is the right word!) learning more. I opted to listen vs. read it as it’s a meaty one (and quite dry at time). 17+ hours! But Larson is a master storyteller and researcher, so I actually really loved it. At times, it is juicy and salacious… at other times, it reads like a thriller. I will add that it is a little bit scary as Lincoln’s election draws very similar parallels to our current very polarizing and chaotic political climate. The book centers around the five months between Lincoln’s election and the start of the Civil War. The main players: Abraham Lincoln (of course), Major Robert Anderson (Sumter’s commander who is loyal to the union, Edmund Ruffin (a radical, advocating for secession), and Mary Boykin Chestnut (a planter’s wife who is conflicted about both marriage and slavery — I found the parallels she draws between them to be really interesting). It’s a political horror story. Riveting, but tragic.