Cry Havoc!
Subtitle: The Crooked Road to Civil War, 1861
Publisher: Viking Adult
Published: January 18, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780670038213
Subjects: U.S. History - Civil War And Reconstruction (1860-1877); History; History - Military / War; History: American; United States - Civil War; History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877); 1861-1865, Civil War; Causes; Civil War, 1861-1865; United States
Description: "When Abraham Lincoln became president on March 4, 1861, crisis had already gripped the nation. Perhaps by then it was too late to avert civil war, but the conflict that broke out a few weeks later was by no means preordained. The particular way it unfolded rested in the hands of individuals, not irresistible historical forces. Cry Havoc! recounts in detail the small quirks of timing, character, and place - especially in Virginia and Maryland - that influenced the huge trajectory of events during eight critical weeks from Lincoln's inauguration through the explosion at Fort Sumter and Lincoln's response to it. A chain of decisions and miscalculations, influenced by swollen vanity and wishful thinking, gave shape to the dreadful conflict to come."--Book jacket.