As America stumbled toward its worst domestic crisis-civil war-political tradition took on the garb of national issues. This is the story of that volatile century, and the people-locally well-known, or those forgotten-who made it happen. This charming study of an Ohio county seat in the nineteenth century might well be described as a microcosm of the American experience. The author...[gives] a clear exposition of how an Ohio town responded to the sectional controversy that led to civil war, [and] the lingering bitterness that plagued Mount Vernon in the aftermath of the war...an excellent example of how a professional historian can reclaim local history from the sentimentality of local antiquarians. -William L. Fisk, Ph.D., Muskingum College Professor Emeritus ...detailed and fascinating....[the] text enables me to more accurately interpret Mount Vernon history, and appreciate the rich and diverse background of our community. -Dr. E. LeBron Fairbanks, President, Mount Vernon Nazarene University Politics & Peril paints a wonderful picture of the big names of the area and the influence they had on local, state and national politics...[and] sheds light onto the influential people of the 1800s that are now immortalized and forever remembered in street names and buildings. -Fred Main, City Editor, Mount Vernon News Master oral presenter of history Lorle Porter has made one thing after another interesting and suspenseful...her treatment of the Peace Democrats during the Civil War...does not hide their racism...but makes clear and vivid their abhorrence of the wholesale killing in warfare of people of both sides. -Tony Stoneburner, Ph.D., Denison University Professor Emeritus