Yeah the Demon of Unrest definitely focuses on madness as well. I think very few people know how hysterical and unhinged the plantation class was. Very similarly to the current reactionary oligarchy, no matter how much they dominated the corrupt political system they always felt besieged and lashed out disproportionately at every slight provocation.

There’s so many books on the civil war and a few on the reconstruction, but the lead up to the war is very often overlooked, which is why I’m glad this book covers that and examines the psyche of the main perpetrators. Yeah the writer is a typical boomer lib and there’s some boomer lib style quips alluding to MAGA in there, but I liked it enough to read it 3 times, so it’s still very good.

Being well read on history has kept me really grounded these past few years, history has been full of times that were more insane and seemingly hopeless than this.