The Demon of Unrest

‘A thoughtful account that also offers a sobering reminder of how humans often don’t see a catastrophe coming until it’s too late’

Independent

‘So many volumes have been written about the origins of the American Civil War that one might heave a sigh at the thought of yet another, but Larson has found a genuinely original way of telling the story—and storytelling, on the basis of serious research, is what he does well’

Daily Telegraph

‘Larson, one of today’s pre-eminent nonfiction storytellers, trawls a variety of archives to explore the historically momentous months between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the Battle of Fort Sumter’

New York Times

‘Perhaps no other historian has ever rendered the struggle for Sumter in such authoritative detail as Larson does here… . Few historians, too, have done a better job of untangling the web of intrigues and counter-intrigues that helped provoke the eventual attack and surrender’

Washington Post

‘An all-too-prescient tale of tension and tragedy, clashing egos, miscommunication, power, and betrayal’

People

‘Even diehard Civil War aficionados will learn from [The Demon of Unrest]… . A riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult’

Los Angeles Times

Erik Larson is a writer, journalist, and novelist. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism on The Wall Street Journal, he has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State and Johns Hopkins.