Biographer and historian Stephen B. Oates tells the story of the coming of the American Civil War through the voices and perspectives of thirteen principal players in the drama, from Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay in the Missouri crisis of 1820 down to Stephen A. Douglas, Jefferson Davis, and Abraham Lincoln in the final crisis of 1861. This innovative approach shows the crucial role that perception of events played in the sectional hostilities that pushed the United States irreversibly toward a national calamity.
Nat Turner, William Lloyd Garrison, John C. Calhoun, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Fitzhugh, John Brown, and Mary Boykin Chesnut also provide perspectives. Each character takes a turn onstage, narrating critical events in which he or she was a major participant or eyewitness. For the dramatic monologues, Oates draws on the actual words of his speakers--in letters, speeches, interviews, recollections, and other recorded utterances--and then simulates how, were they reminiscing aloud, they would describe these events in which they were the principal actors or witnesses. All the events and themes reflect the historical record.
Publishers Weekly,Oates, biographer of Lincoln (With Malice Toward None) and Martin Luther King Jr. (Let the Trumpet Sound), traces the 40-year buildup to the American Civil War through 72 dramatic monologues attributed to 13 speakers. Among them are Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, Nat Turner, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Jefferson Davis, Mary Chesnut and Abraham Lincoln. Oates quilts together a number of spoken or written statements taken from many different sources and presents them as a single utterance stitched, when necessary, by his own fictional touches. For example, an account "by" Jefferson Davis on the reaction to John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry is culled from more than 30 sources that range from President Buchanan's published papers to an article in a contemporary Harper's magazine. The result is dramatic, even melodramatic at times, but a skeptical reader, especially one who diligently studies the pages of reference notes, will probably question the validity of the text. Did Stephen A. Douglas, for example, really use the F--- word when discussing the upcoming 1860 Democratic convention? This is entertaining, but it's more TV docudrama than history.(Feb.) FYI: Oates plans a second volume to cover the "voices" of the war itself. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
