"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