The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War Hardcover - 2009 - 1st Edition

From the jacket flap

Winner, Bennett H. Wall Award, Southern Historical Association

In this fresh study, Brian Schoen views the Deep South and its cotton industry from a global perspective, revisiting old assumptions and providing new insights into the region, the political history of the United States, and the causes of the Civil War.

Impressive . . . Adds an intriguing new dimension to ongoing debates about the nature of southern economic development, what motivated southern states to secede, why they seceded when they did, and ultimately what caused the Civil War.--American Historical Review

An important contribution to the reinterpretation of plantation slavery and the origins of the U.S. Civil War . . . A lucidly written, richly researched, and convincing analysis of the global forces that shaped the politics of the southern slaveholders.--Journal of American History

Schoen has written an immensely important history of southern political economy, one that is destined to be prominent in future studies of the Old South.--Civil War Book Review

In this provocative book, he forces historians who have not done so already to discount 'Lost Cause' lore and pay greater attention to southerners who thought they could use their monopoly in raw cotton as leverage to advance the interests of their region in the larger world.--Journal of Interdisciplinary History

This book will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any scholar of the antebellum era.--Technology and Culture

Media reviews

Citations

• Choice, 02/01/2010, Page 0
• Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/02/2009, Page 17
• Reference and Research Bk News, 11/01/2009, Page 116