John C. Waugh has scored again. On the Brink of Civil War is a tour de force and must reading if we are to comprehend why in 1850 the nation's political leadership succeeded only to fail when next challenged.
Edwin C. Bearss, Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service After the Mexican War, the United States came close ... Read moreto civil war. The process through which compromise prevailed is dramatically recounted by John C. Waugh, an experienced twentieth-century journalist now turning his attention and talents to past crises. Combining skillful reporting, careful research, and an instinct for the colorful, Waugh analyzes the statesmanship the nation would lack a decade later.
John Y. Simon, professor of history, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Jack Waugh has written the best book on the Compromise of 1850. Waugh, in a graceful, journalistic way, examines the views of each major figure and some minor figures. The great statesmen of the nation speak for the causes of the sections, and, with no compromise being popular, they nevertheless manage to prolong the peace for a decade. It is a marvelously written account; you'll root for the one side and then the other—a great read.
Grady McWhiney, Texas Christian University Waugh has produced a splendid and quite readable volume.
History Teacher
A lucid, comprehensive, and wonderfully readable account of the crisis that could have resulted in the dissolution of the Union in 1850.
Keith Poulter, Publisher, North & South magazine Show Less