Rating: 
Summary: Well-argued
Review: This is the book I wish The South Was Right!, considered the gospel of modern Southern nationalism, had been. That book, although it contained much useful and(for the unreconstructed Northerner)embarassing information, was repetitive, occasionally poorly-argued, and overly polemical. Adams' book, on the other hand, is a concise lawyer's brief. He argues that the South seceded primarily for economic reasons. Adams puts a number of disinterested European third parties on the witness stand, notably Charles Dickens, to buttress his case. And he demolishes the arguments of John Stuart Mill, the "prosecution's" star witness and the man who said the whole thing was about the protection and expansion of slavery. Although I'm not completely comfortable with Adams' argument(slavery seems to have been far more important in Southern thinking than Adams makes it out to be, and with good reason. Black people were a reality in the South but an abstraction in the North), it is difficult to disagree with it entirely. Slavery, after all, was still legal in the North and would remain so until 1865. The North ADDED a slave state during the conflict(West Virginia)and Mr. Lincoln countermanded TWO emancipation orders during the war. Thomas Jefferson was not overly terrified by the idea of secession. And Mr Lincoln himself, in 1848, admitted that any people dissatisfied with their government, had the right to form one that suits them better. Adams portrayal of Lincoln's actions early in the war(suspension of habeas corpus, illegally calling out the militia, shutting down opposition newspapers, arresting the Maryland legislature, etc.)is devastating. Although Adams does get off track now and then, When in the Course of Human Events is highly recommended for anyone interested in history as it really was. Devotees of the cult of St. Abraham, though, may want to avoid it.
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