Book Review: The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War. By Erik Larson. New York: Crown Publishing, 2024. Hardcover, 565 pp. $35.00.

Reviewed by Terry Rensel

Author Erik Larson has previously written books about World War II, the Lusitania, and the Chicago World’s Fair, among several other historical topics, but The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War is his first venture into the American Civil War. Larson’s earlier books have largely focused around two different but converging subjects. However, in Demon of Unrest, Larson follows the stories of six main individuals, as well as several other side threads.

In his recent interviews about the book, Larson refers to Demon of Unrest as his COVID book. During the COVID pandemic shutdown he read Series 1, Volume 1 of the Official Records in its entirety, which prompted his interest in telling the story of the events leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter. Interestingly, Larson also says that he is not planning on writing further about Civil War topics.

Larson, a former journalist, not a trained historian, uses primary sources and eyewitness accounts in his writing. As is the case with most of his books, text that are between quotation marks comes from historical documents, and all physical descriptions and action narratives come by way of accounts from witnesses. However, he does not incorporate traditional academic citations. Instead, he has an extensive notes section at the end of the book where he provides his sources, listed by chapter as well as page. There is also a lengthy bibliography. In addition to the Official Records, Larson also makes use of diaries, letters, memoirs, and the personal papers of the participants, as well as period publications.

Larson typically writes for a more general audience of readers who are interested in history, but perhaps not necessarily familiar with his specific subject under study. Such is the case with this title and his telling of the events of late 1860 and early 1861 that led to the commencement of hostilities and thus the beginning of the Civil War. Despite that, in some instances Larson takes a deeper dive into some subjects within the book than one might usually see in a title that is trying to cover so much ground. For example, Larson provides a significant amount of backstory for Edmund Ruffin, discussing his studies, writings on agricultural advancements, as well as Ruffin’s friendship with South Carolina Senator James Henry Hammond, beginning in the 1840s.

The book not only follows Ruffin and Hammond, but also spotlights Mary Chesnut, Maj. Robert Anderson and his Fort Sumter garrison, President Abraham Lincoln, and William Seward. There are also numerous additonal individuals that show up as minor characters in the narrative, such as Abner Doubleday, President James Buchanan, James Chesnut, and others.

Larson organizes the book chronologically, and within that framework he moves the narrative back and forth between the actions of the main characters and events.

Most of the southern perspective threads overlap and converge on Charleston and Fort Sumter, while most of the northern perspective threads coalesce in Washington D.C. with the start of the Lincoln Administration. Once the book reaches that point, the narrative involving those stories becomes more fast-paced and interesting and thus encourages readers to learn more about some of the specific individuals and incidents Larson mentions.

Having read all of Larson’s earlier works, I was looking forward to reading Demon of Unrest. While it is a fine book, it is not Larson’s most compelling work. His ambitious attempt to cover so many different threads within the narrative, much like the Civil War itself, makes it difficult to neatly wrap up the story as he succeeds so well in his earlier books. Perhaps if Larson had been a little less ambitious and focused on a smaller cast of historical characters, it might have made for an even more compelling book.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War is a great introduction into an important event of the Civil War for Larson’s large fan base. In addition, it serves as an intriguing read for those who know more about the Civil War in general, but who are perhaps not as well versed in the events leading up to Fort Sumter, especially those taking place in Charleston itself.