In his book The Coming Fury, historian Bruce Catton wrote, "The truth of the matter was that the American political system, which can survive almost any storm because of its admirable flexibility, was in 1860 breaking down because it had been allowed to become rigid."
With this understanding, my hope with BREAKING NATION is to look to the past for lessons to be learned and to gain a greater appreciation for what that previous generation of Americans had to endure to shape the ongoing future of the country.
I also want to challenge us to not fall into the lazy history of PRESENTISM, "the act of viewing the past through the lens of the present," as described by Stanford Professor Sam Wineburg. Presentism "is a psychological default state that must be overcome before one achieves mature historical understanding."
The American Civil War was perhaps the most critical moment in the history of our country. Would it break apart after just 85 years of existence, or would it chart a path forward through the refining fires of war?
Join me, and together we'll bring the Civil War to life by exploring and discovering the people, the places and the events – as if we didn't know how it would all turn out.