From award-winning historian and New York Times bestselling author of April 1865: The Month That Saved America Jay Winik, a gripping account of the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln's decision to go to war against the Confederacy.

1861: The Lost Peace is the story of President Lincoln's far-reaching, difficult, and most courageous decision, a time when the country wrestled with deep moral and political questions of epic proportions.

Through Jay Winik's singular storytelling, readers will learn about the extraordinary Washington Peace Conference at the Willard Hotel to avert cataclysmic war. They will observe the charismatic and farsighted Senator JJ Crittenden, the tireless moderate seeking a middle way to peace. Lincoln himself called Crittenden "a great man" even as Lincoln jousted with him. They'll be inside and among Lincoln's cabinet-the finest in history-which rivaled the executive in its authority, a fact too often forgotten, and they will see a parade of statesmen frenetically grasping for peace rather than the spectacle of the young nation slowly choking in its own blood. A perfect read for the historically inclined, with haunting overtones to our current political climate.