I give this book a 10 out of 10!
It is a narrative of what happened from the time when Lincoln was elected in November 1860, to the following April when the Union forces surrendered Fort Sumter in the first battle of the Civil War.
Fort Sumter is shown in this map, in the mouth of Charleston Harbor.
What a fascinating 113 days!
Larson also includes realistic and brutal descriptions of slavery, and life in America at the time. Who knew everyone chewed tobacco and spit it all over the floors!
This book has a lot of parallels to the political situation in the US today.
There tons of details that I don’t want to recite, just in case you read the book. You should come upon the gems yourself!
A bonus is that many of the chapters are short! I usually read just a few pages before bed, so I love short chapters!
One of Lisa’s cousins gave me a bookmark she painted, which I used while reading this book.
