The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War

[Don1946]

William Seward was probably as controversial as Butler in his way. There was pressure on Lincoln to dump him and he was constantly being harassed by Congress. Politics is a contact sport in a democracy and in a time of war, with so much at stake, there were a lot of accusations and criticisms, some plausible, some not. Seward was shrewd and tough-minded, and very smart on foreign policy.

Seward, and especially Lincoln, were learning on the job, like all leaders in a democracy, but I think they got it right eventually, and managed to fashion an appeal to the European public that effectively stymied the will of government leaders who wanted to bring the war to an end on terms of Southern independence. The appeal of the Emancipation Proclamation to antislavery sentiment was important, but my book makes the case for an even broader appeal to the republicanism vs. aristocracy and monarchy.

Seward was one of our country's best secretaries of state, in the end. He combined bluster and threats of war with a less well-known but quite effective program of public diplomacy, the first of its kind, that appealed to the European public. He was very stubborn on emancipation; he thought it would backfire and lead to European intervention. He was right; it almost did, then in early January 1863 liberal Europe rallied in support of Lincoln and the Union which they saw fighting "Liberty's War" for them as well as for the "Great Republic" of America.

I don't know of any work by David Perry and don't find anything by that name on Lincoln in Worldcat. There is much to criticize on the leadership of both sides, but in an unprecedented crisis such as this, one expects some missteps along the way. The question is, did they learn, grow, succeed? That is the way I approached it.

--Don

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(12-13-2014 05:37 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(12-12-2014 11:52 PM)brtmchl Wrote:  Congratulations. I am so happy for you and look forward to your release.

I absolutely second this!! May I ask - will it be released in paperback, too (at any time soon)?

Thanks Eva, the usual marketing strategy with a trade press like Basic is to sell the hardbacks at a low price (only $21.77 and the kindle only $16 + on Amazon) and maybe put it in paper, mostly for academic sales, sometime later. I'm not sure the pb price will be much lower than the hb now, so buy early and buy often!

To be honest, I'm not in this for the money, but I want Basic Books to feel good about publishing me, and above all, I want lots of readers to know that "our" Civil War meant a great deal to the rest of the world. Though I had not planned it this way, I also think the book will serve as a timely reminder of how much the world admired the Great Republic as a working model of government and society that proved democracy could work, that it could reform itself, and survive a catastrophic civil war and even an assassination.