Jon Grinspan, Wide Awake, 1st ed, Signed on Bookplate

Description

In Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War, John Grinspan examines an organization considered one of the biggest mechanisms for starting the Civil War in America.

At the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners appeared as bodyguards to defend anti-slavery stump speakers from frequent attacks. The group called themselves the Wide Awakes. Soon, hundreds of thousands of young White and Black men, and a number of women, were organizing boisterous, uniformed, torch-bearing brigades of their own. These Wide Awakes–mostly working-class Americans in their twenties–became one of the largest, most spectacular, and most influential political movements in our history.

To some, it demonstrated the power of a rising majority to push back against slavery. To others, it looked like a paramilitary force training to invade the South. Within a year, the nation would be at war with itself, and many on both sides would point to the Wide Awakes as the mechanism that got them there. In this gripping narrative, Smithsonian historian Jon Grinspan examines how exactly our nation crossed the threshold from a political campaign into a war. Perfect for readers of Lincoln on the Verge and The Field of Blood, Wide Awake bears witness to the power of protest, the fight for majority rule, and the defense of free speech. At its core, Wide Awake illuminates a question American democracy keeps posing, about the precarious relationship between violent speech and violent actions.

As new, dustjacket; signed on bookplate.

Jon Grinspan. WIDE AWAKE: THE FORGOTTEN FORCE THAT ELECTED LINCOLN AND SPURRED TO CIVIL WAR. NY: Bloomsbury. 2024, 1st ed., 333p., color plates, notes, bibliography.

These copies are in “as arrived” condition. There is some minor damage to corners and dust jackets.
We will send the nicest copy available when you order.

We Hope to Have John Grinspan on A House Divided.
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