This book is the third that I have read by the author and as with the others it is well researched and written. The author takes us through a series of events culminating with the attack on Fort Sumpter that began the civil war. He documents the ongoing attempts to prevent the conflict from occurring, but much like today, two sides were too set in their beliefs and would only compromise if the other side would basically capitulate. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the civil war and what lead up to the beginning of the conflict.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.

There have probably been hundreds of books written about the Civil War. I've only read a few of them, but as this work focused on one particular year I was pleased to have the opportunity to review an ARC of 1861. I want to thank author Jay Winik, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for the chance to review. I attest the following review is my own unbiased work.

Winik's 1861 resembles the recent Erik Larson book The Demon of Unrest in that both writers cover the events that lead up to the first shots fired at Fort Sumter. The Demon of Unrest is more detailed, and covers a longer period of history. 1861 covers the months before Abraham Lincoln's inauguration (set at that time in March, not January as we have it today), and the first month of his Presidency. But it is not appropriate to compare the two books except to say that they deal with the same topic, but in different ways.

As Winik stated in his acknowledgement, the author looked for new nuggets of information that other historians may overlook. The book covers a lot of ground in the leadup to the Civil War, and does it in a compact 308 pages of text. The writing is very crisp, as was the research underlying its execution.

I learned some new things and enjoyed reading the book. I give it 4.25 stars, rounded down to 4.0.

I found this to be equal to Winik's "April 1865" although the story was best in the lead up to 1861 instead of the 4 months that are detailed in the year 1861. A lot of the story paralleled the recent released book "The Demon of Unrest" which detailed the lead-up and fall of Fort Sumter in a better way that this book did. Winik crafts an engrossing narrative and I bookends the Civil War well with his other book.

It is amazing that there are new books about Abraham Lincoln that continue to uncover new perspectives on his presidency. 1861 by Jay Winik does exactly that. It’s a solid, but not exhaustive look at the run up to the pivotal year, 1861. It’s approachable reading and a deserved entry in the Lincoln canon. Thanks to #netgalley and #grandcentralpress for the opportunity to preview this book.