The book that needs to be reviewed is “Prelude to the Civil War” by William Freehling. The book has gained huge popularity among historians by its explicit description of the origins of the Civil War in the United States. It has to be said that the book itself arouses controversial feelings towards the history of the beginning of the twentieth century. However, it is evident that the plot is convincing and fresh. There is no limit to perfection; therefore, we can hardly stop the historical researches and the search of the essence and the grounds of all the historical events that humanity has been through. Hence, the works of William Freehling represent a valuable historical and scientific heritage. There is much more that can be added to praise this author, including awards that he has got: the Allan Nevins History Prize and a Bancroft Prize – which happen to be the most prestigious ones on the planet. From now on all scholars and simply school students can commonly use “Prelude to the Civil War” by William Freehling for the sake of knowledge and learning since the events discussed in this book and the entire writing work was carried out at the ultimate working capacity. This is why the piece o literature under consideration is so important for antebellum learning. The book tells us about the Nullification Controversy in South Carolina. Namely, being brief, the author outlined the main characteristics of the society of those days, it’s being excited, unrest, and disturbed. Since ‘the development of South Carolina coastal plantation constitutes one of the great epics in American economic history’(Freehling, 9) its descriptions were truly amazing, vivid, and compelling. William Freehling also described explicitly the fall of aristocratic society down to an almost rural way of life. The planters of the Palmetto State who were definitely used to prosperous life of very sophisticated taste, as well as going to the balls and drinking fine Madeira wine were forced by the life circumstances to tumble to a plain life. This entailed such consequences as obtaining a completely different and newly accepted form of life. Many of the planters experienced economic distress, and slavery was a significant issue of controversy, they ended up having a hard time with guilt over slavery. Of course, even though at those times the society of whites still was stronger and more stable, they started to fear the rebellions of slaves. The split between the two parts of America the South and the North was very close. The preconditions were the following: the political leaders saw another side of the medal – another face of fortune that led them to the way of life they would never think of. Hence, unbelievably in 1832, they wanted to nullify federal law by merely ignoring and disobeying it. As the result, the secession took place in the historical background o America. As the book’s plot unfolds, we may meet such characters as John C. Calhoun (1782 – 1850) U.S. politician. A South Carolina Democrat, he served as U.S. vice president 1825 – 1832. He was noted as a champion of states’ rights and slavery. He was among those people who wanted the nullification to save slavery and his priority – union. Therefore, it has to be mentioned that