Description:

The passions and tension of the American Civil War's opening days come to life in this retelling in verse of the Siege of Fort Sumter and the First Battle of Bull Run. The fevered debate over slavery's abolition, a tumultuous presidential campaign, the drama of secession and a new nation's founding, and desperate attempts to make peace between a divided land's halves -- all come to a head on fields of blood. When battle's smoke clears, both North and South foresee that whatever peace can exist must be won at a cost once unimaginable.