How does a guy who swore repeatedly that he would never write about the Civil War end up writing a book about the Civil War? ERIK LARSON, a master of narrative nonfiction, will talk about how, contrary to his own conviction, he ended up writing The Demon of Unrest, his enthralling account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Fort Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. The book is a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.