The following three books deserve a well deserved place on your book shelf by adding depth to our understanding of the events, and intellectual undercurrents that led to the Civil War.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson is the fascinating story of how the Civil War began at Fort Sumter.  It discusses certain Southern "Fire Eaters" specifically James Hammond and Rhett Barnwell of South Carolina.  It traces every event from issues in Congress to correspondence between Captain Anderson, Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln and General Beauregard and charts Andersons move to Fort Sumter from Fort Moultrie and his pleas to be reinforced with supplies and troops.

Emancipation of the Mind by Matthew Stewart covers some of the same ground as Erik Larson in that it discusses that course of the war from an intellectual point of view discussion view of abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Parker, Fredrick Douglass and the Secret Six.  It covers the Kansas Nebraska incidents, John Brown, and Harper's Ferry.  One interesting side note is the story of German immigrant, Ottilie Assing, who became a companion and close associate of Douglass who assisted him with his writing.  The book also sheds light on AbrahamLincoln's thinking about slavery and how it changed over the years.

Decade of Disunion: How Massachusetts and South Carolina Led the Way to Civil War 1849-1861   by Robert W. Merry focuses on the actions of two states in leading the path to the Civil War.  The introduction sets the stage with the departure of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Calhoun.  Then, in Massachusetts discussion centers on Charles Sumner, Charles Francis Adams, son of John Quincy Adams, and Henry Wilson a leader of the Free Soilers.  In South Carolina the leaders are James Hammond, Andrew Pickens, Rhett BarnwelI.  It covers the Kansas-Nebraska Act, originally passed to benefit development of the railroads, the caning of Charles Sumner, Harpers Ferry and the elections of 1852, 1856 and 1860.  The book reminds us how politically divided the Country was between not just between two parties, the Democrats and Whigs, but with the development of new parties like the Know Nothings, Free Soilers and ultimately the Republican party.