"This remarkable publication provides a captivating and brilliantly executed series of conversations among seventeen most impressive historians. These participants in a daylong conference focusing on the extraordinary years leading to the Civil War provide an incredible range of historical information that is both educational and exciting. Here is an opportunity to draw on a lively exchange between a substantial number of knowledgeable and entertaining scholars.""—James Oliver Horton, author of Landmarks of African American History | America On The Eve Of The Civil War by Edward L. Ayers, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters