The Demon of Unrest

One of the things I've been interested in lately is the series of events that led up to the Civil War. Specifically, what it felt like to live through. How did people feel? How did they talk about each other and what was going on? What was the role of the agitators? Were the agitators driving things, or were they giving voice to the feelings already existing in the audience?

With that in mind, I'd highly recommend checking out The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. Bonus: his other books (eg Garden of Beasts) are also excellent.

Here's the thing I'd suggest looking at in the book - the countless agitators that worked the South in the run up to the war. Apparently, I'm not the first to draw comparisons - Politico touched on this parallel back in 2016.

Stay safe, everyone.