On the eve of Lincoln’s election as president, the vehemently pro-slavery white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, were so outraged that they decided to secede from the Union. Starobin’s deeply researched and dramatic account of events in this one city illuminates the deep divisions that led to the Civil War, divisions Americans continue to struggle with today. With vivid portraits of Charleston’s prominent politicians, pastors, and slave-holders, and with incisive presentations of their ideas and goals, Starobin, author of After America and a regular contributor to The Atlantic and The New Republic, brings 1860 to life and notes its ongoing legacy in issues such as the recent fight over removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Capitol Building.
