The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
(Crown Publishing, 2024)

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On Tuesday, April 30, at 6 p.m., Erik Larson, author of The Demon of Unrest, will be in conversation with Bryan Russo, award-winning journalist and program director for Delmarva Public Media.

This special History Book Festival author event was funded through the generous support of Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I PenFed Realty. The event is produced in cooperation with the Lewes Public Library. A portion of the proceeds will benefit both the festival and the library, helping to provide free literary programming for people of all ages.

About the book
The Demon of Unrest brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War — a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the 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.

Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter. At the heart of this suspense-filled 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 both.

Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces leading America to the brink of war.

About the author
Erik Larson is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, which he discussed at the 2020 History Book Festival. His account of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, The Devil in the White City, is currently in development at Disney Studios. In the Garden of Beasts, the story of how America’s first ambassador to Nazi Germany, William E. Dodd, and his daughter experienced the rising terror of Hitler’s rule, is in development with StudioCanal and Playtone. (The latter book has a local connection: George Messersmith, the American consul in Berlin when the Dodds arrived, was head of the Lewes School before beginning his foreign service career.  He retired in Lewes and is buried at the Lewes Presbyterian Church.)

Bryan Russo is an award-winning journalist, songwriter, and composer. He is the program director for Delmarva Public Media, a group of three FM radio stations that offer the coastal region a diverse menu of music, arts, culture, local news, and programming from National Public Radio.

Purchase Larson’s earlier books
Each reservation includes a signed copy of The Demon of Unrest. However, Erik Larson’s earlier books may be available at the Lewes Public Library. If you’d like to purchase one of the books, please support Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival, by using the links below.

• The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz (Paperback)

• The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Paperback)

• In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (Paperback)

• Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Paperback)

Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing Festival books at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665.

About the Festival
An independent nonprofit organization, the History Book Festival produces an annual festival of new works about history, both historical fiction and narrative nonfiction. The festival also takes authors into schools and other nonprofit community organizations and produces single author events, like this one, throughout the year. Save the date for this year's festival — September 27, 28, and 29, 2024. Learn more at HistoryBookFestival.org.

This special event History Book Festival event was funded through the generous support of Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I PenFed Realty.

Special thanks to our program partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library for event production and promotion; Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival; Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.