{"product_id":"wide-awake-the-forgotten-force-that-elected-lincoln-and-spurred-the-civil-war","title":"Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA propulsive account of our history's most surprising, most consequential political club: the Wide Awake anti-slavery youth movement that marched America from the 1860 election to civil war.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners appeared as bodyguards to defend anti-slavery stump speakers from frequent attacks. The group called themselves the Wide Awakes. Soon, hundreds of thousands of young White and Black men, and a number of women, were organizing boisterous, uniformed, torch-bearing brigades of their own. These Wide Awakes-mostly working-class Americans in their twenties-became one of the largest, most spectacular, and most influential political movements in our history. To some, it demonstrated the power of a rising majority to push back against slavery. To others, it looked like a paramilitary force training to invade the South. Within a year, the nation would be at war with itself, and many on both sides would point to the Wide Awakes as the mechanism that got them there. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this gripping narrative, Smithsonian historian Jon Grinspan examines how exactly our nation crossed the threshold from a political campaign into a war. Perfect for readers of \u003ci\u003eLincoln on the Verge \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eField of Blood\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWide Awake \u003c\/i\u003ebears witness to the power of protest, the fight for majority rule, and the defense of free speech. At its core, \u003ci\u003eWide Awake\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates a question American democracy keeps posing, about the precarious relationship between violent rhetoric and violent actions.\r","brand":"Jon Grinspan","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44447645171948,"sku":"9781639730643","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9781639730643.jpg?v=1708876307","url":"https:\/\/allstora.com\/products\/wide-awake-the-forgotten-force-that-elected-lincoln-and-spurred-the-civil-war","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}