Bloodstains
An Epic History of the Politics
That Produced the American Civil War
Volume 2:
The Demagogues
Abe
Lincoln of Illinois Stephen Douglas
of Illinois
Thad Stevens of Pennsylvania
Charles Sumner of Massachusetts
By Howard Ray White
From March 1848
to April 1861 – With much of the history
being told through parallel biographies of Abe Lincoln,
Jeff Davis, Stephen Douglas, Thad Stevens and Charles
Sumner.
Herein
you live through the political times that surrounded the American Civil War
Herein you live, yes live, through those
turbulent and amazing times. Why? Because much of the pertinent history is told
through parallel biographies of the major politicians of the time. Through 540
informative and compelling pages, Howard Ray White takes you back. He takes you
back to those years so that you may live them yourself, because he wants
you to personally experience them and draw your own conclusions about the
causes of the American Civil War, about the politics that produced such
horrific fighting, suffering and death. Have you long wondered what caused the
American Civil War? Do you doubt the reasons commonly accepted in today's
society? Do you doubt that Abe Lincoln was as truthful, honest and heroic as
alleged? Do you suspect that Jeff Davis
was not such a scoundrel? Would you
like to understand the "Lost Cause," which the Confederates claimed
they had been fighting to uphold? Do you want to truly understand that era's
often-changing political attitudes toward slavery? Then, if you have the time,
Howard Ray White has the means.
White’s style of storytelling, full of
biography, assumes you will be reading each volume of Bloodstains in
sequence. The Demagogues is his second volume. Unlike the vast majority of historical
writers, he is not a product of American Academia; of that he says, "I
find the consequential freedom most helpful, most refreshing." A retired
chemical engineer (Vanderbilt University, 1960), White presents history with
scientifically correct rigor, even when doing so is not today considered
"politically correct." And White tells the history and relates the
biographies with measured feelings of passionate involvement, for his grandfather's
farmhouse was a Federal field hospital at the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stones
River), and there, as a child, he had pondered the "Bloodstains" on
the floors and stairway. He explains: "As a child, those bloodstains cried
out to me to someday tell them 'Why.'" So about 1994, White began a
determined study to understand "Why." And the four volumes of Bloodstains
present the history as White organized it for personal study and for maximum
understanding. White will never tell you "Why," in summary format,
for he refuses to do so. But, after reading Bloodstains, you will know
"Why" more surely than if he had done so, and with far more
conviction.
The four volumes of Bloodstains are --
Volume 1: The Nation Builders; Volume 2: The Demagogues; Volume
3: The Bleeding, and Volume 4: The Struggle for Healing. Volume 1
has been available since August 2002; Volume 3 will be available in 2005,
and Volume 4 by 2006. White says, "I have written most of Volumes 3
and 4, so publication is assured." You may keep informed on progress and
how to order future volumes at White's website, www.civilwarcauses.com.
The following are some sample comments
submitted by readers of draft copies of Bloodstains:
I am now taking orders for Volume 2: The Demagogues.
The price delivered to your mailbox is $26 if in the United States, a bit more
if elsewhere. To order, click here: Order Book.