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Image for event: History Book Discussion: "The Demon of Unrest"

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History Book Discussion: "The Demon of Unrest"

2025-05-22 11:00:00 2025-05-22 12:00:00 America/New_York History Book Discussion: "The Demon of Unrest" Join a lively discussion! This month we are discussing, "The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War" by Erik Larson. Bowie - Conference Room

Thursday, May 22
11:00am - 12:00pm

Add to Calendar 2025-05-22 11:00:00 2025-05-22 12:00:00 America/New_York History Book Discussion: "The Demon of Unrest" Join a lively discussion! This month we are discussing, "The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War" by Erik Larson. Bowie - Conference Room

Bowie

Conference Room

Join a lively discussion! This month we are discussing, "The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War" by Erik Larson.

"On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter. ...[An] account of the chaotic months between Lincoln's election and the Confederacy's shelling of Sumter--a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were 'so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.' At the heart of this ... narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter's commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between them. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous secretary of state, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable--one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans. Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story..." 

Please join us for a discussion of this era in history. 


Borrow the book from PGCMLS: Print | Ebook | Eaudiobook

AGE GROUP: | Adults |

EVENT TYPE: | Discussions |

TAGS: | Book Discussion |

Bowie

Phone: 301-262-7000
Branch manager
Karin Luoma, North Area Director

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Tue, Jun 10 12:00PM to 8:00PM
Wed, Jun 11 12:00PM to 8:00PM
Thu, Jun 12 2:00PM to 6:00PM
(Delayed Opening)
Fri, Jun 13 10:00AM to 6:00PM
Sat, Jun 14 10:00AM to 5:00PM
Sun, Jun 15 Closed

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