A review by zena_ryder
1861: The Civil War Awakening by Adam Goodheart

5.0

This is an amazing book. It comes exceptionally close to that Holy Grail of history books — it reads (almost) like a novel. The characterization of the various players is fantastic; Goodheart has a fiction writer's knack of choosing a few telling details to paint a picture of a full human being. I loved how he told the various stories of the few months either side of the beginning of the Civil War — the Wide Awakes, Sumpter, Ellsworth and the Zouaves, the "Contrabands" — and I was introduced to some fascinating people I'd never heard of before. I look forward to learning more about Abby Kelley, for example. Goodheart also does a great job of describing the development of Lincoln's political skill during this year. I feel that I have a better understanding and appreciation of how his mind worked. I wish there was a second volume, "1862"....