We Have the War Upon Us

February 1, 2013

Cooper provides the listener with a well-developed and researched tome on the critical months in American history between Abraham Lincoln's November 1860 presidential election to the initial outbreak of the Civil War with the April 1861 attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. While sectarian differences and customs came to a head during this period, the book describes how several men worked against them, hoping that the tradition of political compromise would prevail. Unfortunately, Southern fire-eaters and antislavery Republicans pushed against the moderates of their individual sides to cause the South, ultimately, to secede from the Union. Andrew Garman's narration is pleasantly understated, yet provides a palatable urgency to the events that led to the Civil War. VERDICT While this is not a page-turner, it is good history. Recommended, especially for those interested in politics and history. ["This will appeal to Confederate apologists although many of them may be uncomfortable with the way Cooper makes slavery the prominent issue," read the review of the Knopf hc, LJ 10/1/12.--Ed.]--Scott DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

The political jostling and missteps in the months leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861 are covered in great depth. Andrew Garman gives an adequate performance of this complex and little known aspect of the Civil War. Cooper is unsparing in his assessments of the many characters involved; listeners may be most surprised at his view of Lincoln as an inflexible ideologue who refused to consider compromise with the slave-holding states. Garman's narration is deliberate, and his pace is measured, at times even slow. He changes his intonation slightly for most quotations but makes no effort at affecting any type of accent or unique voice for each person quoted. Nonetheless, he has enough variation in his voice to avoid being monotonous and offers a consistent reading. M.T.F.