The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861 [Paperback]

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE

“Profound and original,The Impending Crisisis history in the grand tradition.” –Eric Foner

"Magisterial. . . The single best account to date of the coming of the Civil War.” —Civil War History

David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winningThe Impending Crisisis "the classic study of antebellum America" (American Prospect). Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War:

• Westward expansion
• The divisive issue of slavery
• The Dred Scott decision
• John Brown's uprising
• The ascension of Abraham Lincoln
• And the drama of Southern succession

This riveting and significant historical work remains "modern scholarship's most comprehensive account of the coming of the Civil War" (Journal of Southern History).

David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winningThe Impending Crisisis the definitive history of antebellum America. Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War: westward expansion, the divisive issue of slavery, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's uprising, the ascension of Abraham Lincoln, and the drama of Southern succession. Now available in a new edition,The Impending Crisisremains one of the most celebrated works of American historical writing.

“The classic study of antebellum America” -American Prospect

“Profound and original.The Impending Crisisis history in the grand tradition.” -Eric Foner, New York Times Book Review

“The magnum opus of a great American historian.” -Newsweek

“With a rare combination of nuance and narrative drive, David Potter... vividly portrays a nation coming apal“L