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Field of Blood, The - Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War

By: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Type: Hardcover

Product Line: Historical Books (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)


Product Info

Title
Field of Blood, The - Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
Category
Author
Joanne B. Freeman
Publish Year
2018
Pages
480
Dimensions
9.25x6.25x1.5"
NKG Part #
2148134076
Type
Hardcover

Description

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
ONE OF SMITHSONIAN'S BEST HISTORY BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Historian Joanne B. Freeman recovers the long-lost story of physical violence on the floor of the U.S. Congress. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests. When debate broke down, congressmen drew pistols and waved Bowie knives. One representative even killed another in a duel. Many were beaten and bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance, particularly on the issue of slavery.