Considers the key questions America faced on the eve of the Civil War: What factors fuelled booming national expansion and economic growth, and what roles did they play in the national conversation? Would the slave-based economy continue to thrive? What would be the long-term effects of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry? And what was the outlook for the election of 1860?
"This remarkable publication provides a captivating andbrilliantly executed series of conversations among seventeen most impressivehistorians. These participants in a daylong conference focusing on the extraordinaryyears leading to the Civil War provide an incredible range of historical informationthat is both educational and exciting. Here is an opportunity to draw on a livelyexchange between a substantial number of knowledgeable and entertainingscholars." -- James Oliver Horton, author of "Landmarks ofAfrican American History"