Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Three political leaders presided over the reshaping of the North American continent during the fiery 1860s. Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were both born in Kentucky, Davis in June 1808 and Lincoln the following February. John A. Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in January 1815. All were Protestants; none came from a wealthy family. In an earlier era, such men would not have risen to political heights. They personified an age of social and economic transformation, thrust to the top by the very forces that tore the continent apart.
Davis tried to create a country by ripping the South out of the United States and establishing the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Lincoln's crusade to save the Union honed the industrial-military power that would one day dominate the world. Macdonald led the drive to shepherd the diverse British North American provinces into a federal state that would secure the northern half of the continent and keep Canada out of American hands.
In a high stakes game, these three national projects competed to create viable nation states. And the success or failure of the projects would have consequences -- not only for the long-term future of the continent but also for the entire global order.
Synopsis
- This is the second book in Laxer's North American trilogy.
- James Laxer is an award-winning author of more than twenty-five books, including the #1 national bestseller Tecumseh and Brock: The War of 1812
- Highly readable with accessible language.
- This is one of the few books that talks about key North American history and how it has shaped the continent and the global order even into the present day
- Focusing on three leaders -- Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, and John A. Macdonald -- the book showcases how similar these men are in circumstance and how different their paths are in attempting (and in two cases succeeding) to create a nation-state.
- There is cross-border appeal for this title as it talks about the Northern and Southern States, as well as Canada.