AUDIO

We Have the War Upon Us: The Onset of the Civil War, November 1860–1861

by William J. Cooper
10 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 12½ hrs. Recorded Bks. 2012. ISBN 9781464046223. $123.75; digital download. HIST
COPY ISBN
Cooper provides the listener with a well-developed and researched tome on the critical months in American history between Abraham Lincoln's November 1860 presidential election to the initial outbreak of the Civil War with the April 1861 attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. While sectarian differences and customs came to a head during this period, the book describes how several men worked against them, hoping that the tradition of political compromise would prevail. Unfortunately, Southern fire-eaters and antislavery Republicans pushed against the moderates of their individual sides to cause the South, ultimately, to secede from the Union. Andrew Garman's narration is pleasantly understated, yet provides a palatable urgency to the events that led to the Civil War.
VERDICT While this is not a page-turner, it is good history. Recommended, especially for those interested in politics and history. ["This will appeal to Confederate apologists although many of them may be uncomfortable with the way Cooper makes slavery the prominent issue," read the review of the Knopf hc, LJ 10/1/12.—Ed.]
Reviewed by Scott DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania , Feb 01, 2013
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