12/1/2015BookFilter | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=1fed3724-cc15-4b9f-9f9d-3fb8ffe21483&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/3HomeTop Picks: All BooksOur Man In Charleston MoreOur Man In Charlestonby Christopher DickeyPrice: $27.00(Hardcover)Published: July 21, 2015Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)From the Publisher: Between the Confederacy and recognitionby Great Britain stood one unlikely Englishman who hated theslave trade.</p><p> His actions helped determine the fate of a nation.</p><p> Astension in the United States over slavery and western expansionthreatened to break into civil war, the Southern states foundthemselves squeezed between two nearly irreconcilable realities:The survival of the Confederate economy would require theimportation of more slaves, a practice banned in America since1807.</p><p> But the existence of the Confederacy itself could not besecured without official recognition from Great Britain, who wouldnever countenance reopening the Atlantic slave trade.</p><p> How, then,could the first be achieved without dooming the possibility of thesecond? The South believed Britain would never risk losing themassive flow of cotton that fed British mills, and…Rate This Book|Rate/ReviewAdd To BookshelfGet This Book Go to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site whereyou can get this book.BookFilter12/1/2015BookFilter | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=1fed3724-cc15-4b9f-9f9d-3fb8ffe21483&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/3 Personalize / Add More ChoicesWhat We SayThis entertaining work of popular history rescues British consul Robert Bunch from the dustbin of history.</p><p> He wasassigned to the seeming backwater of Charleston, South Carolina before the Civil War.</p><p> It became the cradle of therebellion and Bunch became the most informed -- and at times the only reliable -- source of information to the UKgov't about coming elections, the brewing move towards secession and the slave trade.</p><p> An ardent opponent ofslavery (like the vast majority in the UK) once he saw its ills up close, Bunch played a dangerous game.</p><p> Like manydiplomats, he kept his eyes open.</p><p> Unlike many, every dispatch he sent home was potentially a death sentence: ifSouth Carolinians realized how much he opposed their aims, Bunch could be killed.</p><p> With his insistent reporting andprescient comments, Bunch nudged the UK towards understanding that the South would embrace the slave tradeand expand to Cuba, Mexico and beyond.</p><p> He colored the reporting by the Times of London to support that belief andkept his real opinions so close to the vest that the US government accused him of colluding with the ConfederateStates of America.</p><p> Dickey's book shows the war and the slave trade from a fresh international perspective, gives fulldue to Bunch and makes a passionate case that William Seward was a bumbling fool when it came to the UK.</p><p> It's afascinating and illuminating work of scholarship and story. -- Michael GiltzLessWhat Others Say"Our Man in Charleston is a joy to discover.</p><p> It is a perfect book about an imperfect spy." —Joan Didion "[Bunch is] abrilliant find…Dickey, the foreign editor of The Daily Beast and a former longtime Newsweek correspondent, uses hisresearch well: in a story like this one, point of view is everything, and Bunch’s is razor sharp." —American Scholar"Dickey has written a book that is as much suspense and spy adventure as it is a history book...</p><p> A story ascompelling as this one does not come around very often.</p><p> With so much already written about the Civil War, and morecoming every year, originality is a rare thing these days.</p><p> The story of Robert Bunch is that and more." —The CarolinaChronicles "A fascinating tale of compromise, political maneuvering, and espionage." —Publishers Weekly "Dickey'scomprehension of the mindset of the area, coupled with the enlightening missives from Bunch, provides a richbackground to understanding the time period….A great book explaining the workings of what Dickey calls an erratic,cobbled-together coalition of ferociously independent states.</p><p> It should be in the library of any student of diplomacy,as well as Civil War buffs." —Kirkus Reviews (starred) "A…MoreWhat You SayFilter byNo Reviews Found .....
