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The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
Contributor(s): Freeman, Joanne B. (Author)

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ISBN: 0374154775     ISBN-13: 9780374154776
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: September 2018
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States - 19th Century
- History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877)
- Political Science | American Government - Legislative Branch
Dewey: 973.7
LCCN: 2018010176
Physical Information: 1.6" H x 6.4" W x 9.1" L (1.58 lbs) 480 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 1851-1899
- Topical - Civil War
- Chronological Period - 19th Century
- Locality - Washington, D.C.
- Geographic Orientation - District of Columbia
Features: Bibliography, Dust Cover, Illustrated, Index, Price on Product
Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 04/15/2018 pg. 48
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2018
Library Journal 08/01/2018 pg. 107
Publishers Weekly 08/06/2018
Choice 02/01/2019
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

One of the best history books I've read in the last few years. --Chris Hayes

The previously untold story of the violence in Congress that helped spark the Civil War

In The Field of Blood, Joanne B. Freeman recovers the long-lost story of physical violence on the floor of the U.S. Congress. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests. When debate broke down, congressmen drew pistols and waved Bowie knives. One representative even killed another in a duel. Many were beaten and bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance, particularly on the issue of slavery.

These fights didn't happen in a vacuum. Freeman's dramatic accounts of brawls and thrashings tell a larger story of how fisticuffs and journalism, and the powerful emotions they elicited, raised tensions between North and South and led toward war. In the process, she brings the antebellum Congress to life, revealing its rough realities--the feel, sense, and sound of it--as well as its nation-shaping import. Funny, tragic, and rivetingly told, The Field of Blood offers a front-row view of congressional mayhem and sheds new light on the careers of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and other luminaries, as well as introducing a host of lesser-known but no less fascinating men. The result is a fresh understanding of the workings of American democracy and the bonds of Union on the eve of their greatest peril.


Contributor Bio(s): Freeman, Joanne B.: - Joanne B. Freeman, a professor of history and American studies at Yale University, is a leading authority on early national politics and political culture. Author of the award-winning Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic and editor of The Essential Hamilton and Alexander Hamilton: Writings, she is a cohost of the popular history podcast BackStory.
 
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