num_pages: 416
description: The Pulitzer-Prize winning classic and national bestseller returns! In this brilliant biography—a Pulitzer Prize—winning national bestseller—David Herbert Donald, Harvard professor emeritus, traces Sumner's life as the nation careens toward civil war. In a period when senators often exercised more influence than presidents, Senator Charles Sumner was one of the most powerful forces in the American government and remains one of the most controversial figures in American history. His uncompromising moral standards made him a lightning rod in an era fraught with conflict. Sumner's fight to end slavery made him a hero in the North and stirred outrage in the South. In what has been called the first blow of the Civil War, he was physically attacked by a colleague on the Senate floor. Unwavering and arrogant, Sumner refused to abandon the moral high ground, even if doing so meant the onslaught of the nation's most destructive war. He used his office and influence to transform the United States during the most contentious and violent period in the nation's history. Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War presents a remarkably different view of our bloodiest war through an insightful reevaluation of the man who stood at its center.
language: English
title: Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War
titlecomplete: Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War
characters: Charles Sumner
genres: History, Classics, American History, 19th Century, War, American Civil War, Politics, Civil War, Biography, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 209
series: Charles Sumner
awards: awardedAt: -283968000000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: Biography or Autobiography, awardedAt: -283968000000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Nonfiction
publisher: Ballantine Books