Green (history, College of Southern Nevada) has written widely on 19th-century America and the Western history. Here he synthesizes the politics of the decade and a half before the Civil War. He writes specifically for undergraduates and general readers, but suggests that the coverage is thorough enough to be useful to graduates and advanced scholars as well. In the 1840s, he says, the country was humming along--the economy was good, there was peace with Europe, Louisiana was bought and paid for, those pesky Indians had been chased off, and Latin America was developing as an exploitable hinterland for US industry. There was one little problem, slavery, which grew steadily until it dominated politics, casting all else into shadow. He traces the history from the cracking of old coalitions; the compromise of 1850 and its aftermath; bleeding parties, bleeding Kansas, and bleeding Sumner; a new president, a new party and a new constitutional clash; great and greater debates; and purging the land with blood. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)