Publishers Weekly
07/17/2023
The 12 crucial days between Fort Sumter’s evacuation and the arrival of Union troops in Washington, D.C.—April 14 through 25, 1861—were the closest the capital came to capture during the Civil War, according to this riveting debut from journalist Silber. He provides an hour-by-hour account of the pivotal period, shifting between the three main “scenes of action”—the capital, the advance of the Union troops from the North, and Southern planning and military movements. Among other incidents that took place over these “two weeks of terror,” Silber documents Lincoln’s call for volunteers, Virginia’s secession, the loss of Harpers Ferry, the Baltimore riot of April 19 and subsequent burning of the city’s bridges, the destruction of railroad tracks and cut telegraph wires by secession sympathizers in Maryland, and the “wave of resignations” in the U.S. administration. Silber offers the most descriptive and thrilling account of the Baltimore riot yet, which saw a “huge, bloodthirsty mob” assault the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment as it detrained in the city. Imaginatively recreating a “marooned” Washington, whose residents fled so quickly “houses were left with open blinds and some with open windows,” Silber reflects on how things could have gone differently, especially if Virginia had seceded earlier and calls for immediately attacking the capital were heeded by Southern leaders. Civil War buffs will relish the wealth of new historical insights. (July)
From the Publisher
This is not sci-fi alternative history but a remarkable new book of narrative history by decorated journalist and entrepreneur Tony Silber. He has unearthed some of America’s most deeply hidden history and written a swift, powerfully documented narrative of twelve days that enriches our understanding of our nation, its bloodiest war, and a president whose heroism, as Silber shows us, we are only beginning to understand.”—Michael Capuzzo, New York Times best-selling author of Close to Shore and The Murder Room
“In riveting and fascinating detail, Tony Silber captures one of the most significant moments in American history. This page-turner is a must-read for anyone who has a passion for American democracy and the bold and extraordinary leadership of Abraham Lincoln during those twelve turbulent days in 1861.”—Michael Clinton, former president, marketing, and publishing director of Hearst Magazines
“Tony Silber achieves something remarkable here. He takes a 160-year-old war that you thought you knew everything about, grabs you by the lapels, and pulls you to the edge of your seat. With spare, exciting prose and a reporter’s eye for vivid detail, he gives the first two weeks after the outbreak of the Civil War the freshness and immediacy of a breaking news story.”—Charles Slack, author of Liberty’s First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech
“Tony Silber has vividly captured a moment of astonishing peril, one in which the preservation of the Union and the very future of the nation hung in the balance. Deeply researched and compellingly told, it’s a gripping tale offering a fresh look at the leaders, decisions, and events that continue to resonate today.”—Ellen B. Meacham, author of Delta Epiphany: Robert F. Kennedy in Mississippi
“A remarkably evocative story of our Union at a moment of profound peril. Reading Twelve Days, one can feel the ominous crackling of anger and division in the streets of Washington and sense the brutal forces gathering just over the horizon. At that point in our history it would take a genius president and a devastating bloodletting to preserve the Union. Having been an unhappy target of the insurrection of January 6, I feel the disturbing parallels deep in my bones. We are not guaranteed a genius president. Americans today should closely study those things that stoke division and violence in order to play their part in our democracy's preservation.”—Jim Himes, U.S. Representative, Fourth Connecticut Congressional District
“Because I’m a notorious stickler for clear sourcing, I’m always skeptical of fly-on-the-wall accounts of dramatic events. And here Tony Silber has attempted exactly that—with an account, no less, of people and events that shaped, and saved, America more than 150 years ago. But he’s done it! He’s written a true drama of how Abraham Lincoln and his team somehow saved a Washington surrounded by enemy secessionists during the first twelve days of the Civil War—their fears, their mistakes, their scheming, their arguments, their triumphs. And at every point where your reaction will be, ‘How does he know that?’ you can turn to more than fifty pages of meticulous footnotes to find out. I’m in awe.”—Steven Brill, author of Tailspin and America’s Bitter Pill, creator of Court TV and The American Lawyer, and co-CEO of NewsGuard
“Written as only a reporter or war correspondent can write it, with vivid descriptions showing the art of audio-visual writing at its best. You can see the images without the need for pictures, and you can hear the sounds without the need for a radio or television. Silber has combined his reporting skills and editing skills in one heck of a historical book that will be read for generations to come.”—Samir Husni, founder and former director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi
“A well-researched and stirring account of the first twelve days of the Civil War. . . . Silber masterfully provides the historic background and creates a good read about the arrival of the New York Seventh and Massachusetts Eighth regiments to secure the capital. The work fills a void in Civil War historic research.”—Alan M. Meckler, publisher, tech entrepreneur, and author of The Internet’s First Entrepreneur: Lessons and Wisdom for the Business Journey
“Silber’s fast-paced narrative captures the unnerving chaos and uncertainty gripping a polarized republic in the early days of an increasingly deadly clash of cultures, politics, and armies. His ripped-from-the-headlines approach makes for a visceral plunge into a fraught and frightening past and serves as a thoughtful reminder of just how quickly a nation can unravel.”—Jack Alcott, former group managing editor for Hearst Connecticut Media and author of Grim Legion: Edgar Allan Poe at West Point
“Tony Silber draws in careful detail a complete picture of the frenetic effort to summon militias to defend Washington in the twelve days after the attack on Fort Sumter. Silber, who has a way with words, recaptures a sense of contingency in those twelve days, when both the capital and the state of Maryland were threatened by secessionists. Silber’s prose is gripping and his sources (memoirs of key figures in the events described) excellent. The book is difficult to put down. Silber places you in the middle of these fateful events with his skillful descriptions of the personalities and geographic settings that animated these events.”—Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox, professor and co-chair of the Department of History at Western Connecticut State University
