Our One Common Country

The end of the Civil War is one of those bits of history we all think we know: Appomattox and all that. This audiobook opens up the story of the men who were trying to end the carnage weeks and months earlier, most notably through a peace conference at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Narrator Malcolm Hillgartner lets the story carry itself without unnecessary added drama and shades his voice just enough that we can tell when quotations start and end. He conveys passion where it's warranted, particularly in the Southern editorials, without jarring the overall tenor of the production. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

October 7, 2013
In early February 1865, in the midst of the Civil War, a group of Southern and Northern politicians—including President Lincoln—met at Hampton Roads, Va., to negotiate peace between the two warring factions, however skeptically. Plans centered on a proposal to overcome their differences by invading Mexico together, and throughout the peacemaking attempts, the politicians sought secrecy (often in vain) because of strong disapproval from the media and certain peers. Needless to say, the peace conference was a failure. Conroy’s impressively thorough and engaging document details the events leading up to, during, and immediately after the Hampton Roads Peace Conference, which has never before been the sole subject of a book. The book illuminates the conflicting, passionate views on the Civil War—and on the appropriate way to end the war—while giving fascinating insight into the war’s major players: Lincoln and his secretary of state, William H. Seward; Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his vice president, Alexander Stephens; the Blair family of Washington power brokers; and generals Grant, Meade, Lee, and Longstreet. Conroy draws on private journals, official notes, newspaper reports, and more as he untangles this important, but often overlooked, moment in history.