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The Crisis (Large Print Edition)

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Hundred year-old books often make for difficult reading, and this is no exception, but the story at the heart of it is one that you probably haven't heard before - especially if you went to elementary school in the North. On the surface it's a sentimental Civil War romance novel: Northern boy with an abolitionist mentor meets Southern girl from old, aristocratic, slaveholding Virginia family in antebellum St. Louis Missouri. Get beyond it.
Get deeper into it though and we meet Ulysses Grant, not as a General but as a failed businessman. We meet Sherman before he got his stripes. We meet Abraham Lincoln during the period of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and the author takes the time and respects his readers' intelligence enough to get into the philosophical and rhetorical merits of Lincoln's debating techniques and the Republican Party's platform. The title of the books is drawn from a question put by Lincoln to Douglas at their Fairfield, Illinois debate. In developing his thesis on the Civil War, the author goes into great detail to explain how a desire for Liberty drove a wave of German immigrants to American shores in the mid-1800s where, as war approached, they displayed pro-Union sympathies. The author's thesis itself is that the American Civil War was not an indigenous event but was rather an chapter in an ongoing struggle between factions of the Anglo-Saxon race, a struggle between Cavaliers and Puritans going back to the days of King Charles I.
All-in-all, a book that opens the eyes to different ways of thinkin'. Readers looking for expressions of true equality of the freedmen or non Anglo-Saxon Europeans will not find these.

Hopefully the confusion over the two Winston Churchills has been straightened out for anyone searching this page; the Churchill who wrote THE CRISIS was an American novelist, not the British leader (though they knew each other and even met once). During the time this book was written the novelist Churchill was much better known than Sir Winston.

This book is Churchill's second historical novel and is concerned with the Civil War mainly around the St. Louis area. As with the previous novel, RICHARD CARVEL, Churchill did a great deal of research before writing his book. In fact, it's the history that's revealed in the book that most impresses; those things that make for a superb novelist , especially plausible character development and credible dialogue, were often lacking in Churchill's works. Stephen Brice, a Bostonian lawyer, comes to St. Louis and falls in love with Virginia Carvel (daughter of Colonel Carvel from the earlier novel), who shuns him because he's a Northerner. Brice joins the Union army when the war breaks out, and through him we encounter major historical figures, including Grant and Lincoln. The climax comes when Brice goes to Lincoln to ask for the release of Virginia's captured lover, Colfax; Lincoln agrees and Virginia is amazingly impressed with Lincoln's goodness and wishes all in the South could appreciate him as she has learned to do. It's about as bad as it sounds.

Although parts of the story are pretty exciting, just about all the characters are cardboard cutouts. Even Grant, perhaps his best drawn character, appears and sounds nothing like the general encountered in the history books. Churchill refused to make his characters multi-dimensional: they are either all good or all bad, there is no in-between. He also followed the standard formula for romantic fiction, with the lovers at odds over opposing "principles," who over time, in which they are able to demonstrate their noblest qualities, are reconciled. This formula has fallen out of fashion today (though when done well can still make for exceptional fiction), and most modern readers might find the history in the book more appealing than the love story (if they can make it through the love story). The best thing in the book might be the way St. Louis is portrayed; Churchill accurately represents the city, especially the less familiar German element of it. The novel was extremely popular when it first came out - it sold 100,000 copies in the first few days of publication - and it probably will still find favor with those who enjoy old-fashioned romantic novels who can suspend much of their disbelief for 500 pages or so.

Forget the above quote about Eliphalet Hopper. Turns out he's a minor player. The true main character is Bostonian Stephen Brice and his long, long, looonnnnggg unspoken love for uppity Southern Belle Virginia Carvel. In between the years when they first meet to finally confessing their love for each other a minor thing known as the Civil War occurs. The setting is mainly St. Louis, a city like many others that is divided in its loyalties. Real-life people pop up now and then, like an unknown Grant delivering firewood and energetic Sherman in charge of a car line. Abraham Lincoln might as well be the Second Coming the way the author goes on and on about him. I'm giving the book three stars because it does move at a good pace and keeps you interested until the end. However, you must keep in mind the times and ways things used to be when this book was originally written. If you're offended by the N-word this novel may not be for you as it is used regularly.

This account of the Civil War was written by the American author Winston Churchill, whose poularity at the turn of the century was apparently enough that a young englishman though it necessary to add his middle initial "S" to his name. This book is set in St Louis, covering the period from 1852 to 1865. By today's standards in politically INcorrect as all get-out. But is still an interesting look at the Civil War and a look at turn-of-the-century America's view of the conflict and its protagonists.

The book arrived in good condition. To my surprise this was a 1901 copyright book.

I found this book in my grandmother's collection and had some problems with the first chapter. But once you slip into the prose, it becomes much easier. First of all, yes, the novel could be seen as politically incorrect. Though using the language of an era doesn't necessarily denote endorsement. Furthermore, the entire vocabulary of multiculturalism had not even begun to be conceived of when Churchill wrote the book.

The book is an interesting look at St. Louis during the prelude and main act of the Civil War. It is interesting both because the historiographic perspective of the writer is different from that of contemporary writers and because of the novel's setting in the Western theater. I recommend the book for anyone looking for a different take on a Civil War character-driven novel.

The American author, Winston Churchill, chose to set the action in his home town of St. Louis, because it was the site of pivotal events in the western theater of the Civil War, with historically prominent citizens having both Northern and Southern sympathies. St. Louis was also the pre-war home of both Ulysses Grant and William Sherman, who are depicted with drama and realism.

Romantic tension develops between the four main characters: one the fashionable daughter of a southern gentleman of the old school, another her n'er-do-well cousin who becomes a stalwart cavalier in the Southern cause to win her approval, the third an earnest young lawyer from Boston who antagonizes her by his zeal for Abraham Lincoln's cause, and the fourth a hard-working clerk with ambitions to advance himself both financially and socially.

"The crisis" is provoked by Abraham Lincoln's opposition to the extension of slavery, and the power of his personal integrity to win people to his cause, including the young lawyer, who becomes a devoted admirer and proponent following a personal interview on the eve of the Freeport debate between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. This meeting depicts Lincoln's determination to advance the cause of freedom through the possible (and likely) sacrifice of his own political ambitions, and is related with a very believable combination of rustic humor and political acumen on Lincoln's part.

The events prior to Lincoln's nomination and his eventual election to the Presidency elicit different reactions among the citizens of St. Louis, from the determined antipathy of the Southern sympathizers, to the equally determined patriotism of the population of German immigrants who have fled from their homeland and whose devotion to liberty has caused them to transfer their allegiance to the ideal of American democracy. One of them is a fellow lawyer who bears the scar of a duel fought with broadswords between himself and an arrogant German noble; a duel based on an actual incident in Berlin.

Although the personal rivalries follow an almost soap opera style formula, the overall events of the war from the perspective of St. Louis and the Western theater of war are dramatically depicted with well-researched authenticity, and both Grant and Sherman are depicted as having a personal involvement in the lives of the main characters. A pivotal moment in the heroine's life is presented through her transformation from being self-centered and self-absorbed to becoming self-sacrificing and dedicated to easing the suffering of others. This is represented as a Christian metaphor for the way that God uses challenges to mould a person's character.

Eventually she and the young lawyer find themselves meeting Lincoln together to try to save her cousin's life, and together they experience Lincoln's power to bring about a reconciliation between them; just before the national reconciliation which Lincoln proposed between the North and the South would be aborted by John Wilkes Booth's bullet.

This novel is a story about Abraham Lincoln in the same sense that the novel Ben Hur is "a tale of the Christ," in that Lincoln only appears twice, for a total of about two dozen pages, but his philosophy is a dynamic presence throughout the story. As a side note: General Lew Wallace wrote Ben Hur partly as a way to revive his reputation in the aftermath of the battle of Shiloh, in which his division played an undistinguished role, marching and countermarching futilely the first day of the battle, the aftermath of which left Sherman so discouraged that he remarked to Grant, "They sure whupped us today!" To which Grant replied, "Yep. We'll whup them tomorrow," and they did.

In his post-script, the author offers this apology for supporting Lincoln's point of view, by explaining, "Lincoln loved both the South and the North."

I found this book on the shelf of books we moved in with my grandfather. I noted the owner, my great-grandmother. She was usually a mystery reader, so I read this to learn more about her. The book is easily read, and I couldn't guess where it was headed for sure with the little twists in it. I don't know enough of St. Louis history to know if the historical facts are accurate, but I will be doing research to find out the history of the Civil War in St. Louis!

This sounds like THE CRISIS by the American novelist Winston Churchill; surely not THE WORLD CRISIS by Winston Spencer Churchill. R. Langworth Editor FINEST HOUR Churchill Center www.winstonchurghill.org