The Political Crisis of the 1850s

good

The book met my expectations and will be a wonderful addition to my AP United States History library.

Oy gevalt!!! [Yiddish expression meaning both "oh my God" and "enough already."]This book is poorly written--even for an ACADEMIC book. And that's really saying something, because academics generally write poorly.The prose is uninspired and workmanlike. It doesn't scintillate or excite. Paragraph structure is confusing and arbitrary, often with no effective topic sentence acting as an introduction for what follows. The author beats his points to death, restating them several times--and each time is less focused and more rambling. The text contains a great deal of arcane detail. Though its completeness is laudable, there is so much detail that the author's points are often lost in the abundance of data. Perhaps some of the detail could have been put into footnotes? Transitions between paragraph and different sections are awkward and poorly constructed.The book reads as if the author took his first draft, proofread it for typos and punctuation, but submitted it without the essential (for ANY writer) steps of analysis of what's been written; asking how well organized it is and how well it makes the author's point; and then REWRITING to improve the argument.This is sad, because the topic is important and interesting. Holt is clearly a master of his topic. The argument the author is attempting to make is Important to antebellum studies. The depth of his research is amazing. The underlying arguments are sound and convincing. But my god, it's hard to stay focused on the argument. I am reading this for a course in American History; otherwise I would not finish it.Rating for readability: Zero stars.Rating for the underlying argument: 5 stars.Average: 2.5 stars.

This book is for history buffs only. Very hard to follow the line of discussion.

As expected, arrived quickly

Good book

Totally pleased. Thanks

Excellent