The Crisis

In one of the first blockbuster novels of the 20th Century, American author Winston Churchill (not to be confused with the latter British statesman Winston S. Churchill) weaves real-life historical figures and his own memorable characters into a colorful tapestry of a nation sliding toward civil war. In 1857, St. Louis has become a bustling center of transportation and commerce. But the divisions that threaten to tear the nation apart simmer just below the placid surface of daily life. Prosperous merchant and slaveowner Comyn Carvel and his daughter Virginia make no secret of their love for the Southern way of life, or their willingness to fight for it. Meanwhile, a young lawyer from Boston, Stephen Brice, arrives in St. Louis and is soon transformed by his encounters with the horrors of slavery —and with the Republican Party's rising star, Abraham Lincoln. Clarence Carvel, Virginia's cousin, longs for a chance to prove himself in battle for the South and, more importantly, to Virginia herself. And calculating Yankee businessman Eliphalet Hopper determines to fight for no cause but his own —to gain wealth and respect at any cost. Written just 40 years after the Civil War —when the conflict was still within living memory— The Crisis brings to life the passions, fears, sacrifices, heroism, and cowardice displayed by those who lived through the impassioned era of the "house divided".