The Stormy Present - (Civil War America) by Adam I P Smith (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this engaging and nuanced political history of Northern communities in the Civil War era, Adam I. P. Smith offers a new interpretation of the familiar story of the path to war and ultimate victory. Smith looks beyond the political divisions between abolitionist Republicans and Copperhead Democrats to consider the everyday conservatism that characterized the majority of Northern voters. A sense of ongoing crisis in these Northern states created anxiety and instability, which manifested in a range of social and political tensions in individual communities.

In the face of such realities, Smith argues that a conservative impulse was more than just a historical or nostalgic tendency; it was fundamental to charting a path to the future. At stake for Northerners was their conception of the Union as the vanguard in a global struggle between democracy and despotism, and their ability to navigate their freedoms through the stormy waters of modernity. As a result, the language of conservatism was peculiarly, and revealingly, prominent in Northern politics during these years. The story this book tells is of conservative people coming, in the end, to accept radical change.

Review Quotes

"The Stormy Present accomplishes the rare and therefore vital task of presenting a narrative of the late antebellum sectional crisis that shows how sectionalist radicals drove events but conservatives and conservatism were also a force to be reckoned with. Smith's is a precise, rich exploration of what conservatism meant to a wide range of Northerners that those subjects themselves would recognize, painting a nuanced portrait of both change and continuity in this era." -- Matthew Mason, Brigham Young University

"A major accomplishment."--Canadian Review of American Studies

"A nuanced and complex study, this book is an important contribution to the era's scholarship."--CHOICE

"An essential and lively corrective to a much-neglected element of Civil War scholarship. Students, scholars, and armchair generals alike will be enriched by this engaging re-interpretation of a conservative North."--Civil War Book Review

"Goes beyond historical assumptions. . . . Smith brings forth much food for thought."--American Historical Review

"Most political histories of the antebellum era in the North see the world from an antislavery perspective, but Smith focuses instead on the people who did not yet see slavery as the most pressing issue. This approach offers new insights and understanding about northern politics."--The Journal of Southern History

"Smith's portrayal of a conservative and antislavery North is subtle and historiographically profound."--Journal of the Civil War Era

"Through painstaking and extensive research, which is among the many estimable qualities of his book, Smith affirms that conservatism in the North was more a disposition of mind than a political creed."--Journal of American History

About the Author

Adam I. P. Smith is the Edward Orsborn Professor of U.S. Politics and Political History at the University of Oxford and author of No Party Now: Politics in the Civil War North.