American Mobbing, 1828-1861: Toward Civil War
"...Grimsted has produced a well-written and provocative account of a difficult subject.  He is to be commended for making some sense out of the senseless, and his work should be read by all those interested in the causes of America's bloodiest war."--Mississippi Quarterly"...[a] lively, eloquent study....American Mobbingis a smart, passionate examination of an unusually contentious era.  Scholars and general readers interested in prewar America will wish to read it, and they will much enjoy the time spent doing it."--Civil War History"David Grimsted's groundbreaking tome, the product of over twenty-five years of work, is a deeply considered meditation on the relationship between mob violence and the coming of the Civil War....He addresses one of the central questions in American History and his important answers deserve widespread acclaim and continued commentary."--Journal of Social History"[Grimsted] offers lengthy analyses...extensive...contextual examinations...provocative and controversial."--The North Carolina Historical Review"...David Grimsted has made a major contribution to the historiography of mob violence in the nineteenth-century United States.  His book illuminates how often antebellum Americans negotiated their differences through rioting.  More importantly it shows the price that this nation has paid for engaging in such behavior....American Mobbingis required reading for those interested in Civil War causation and the history of mob violence in the United States."--Reviews in American History