I first became interested in this subject many years ago after reading a biography about Robert La Follette and learning about the dramatic confrontation which took place in the United states Senate, including the threat of guns and physical violence.  I started then to do research with the intent of eventually writing a historical novel.  That project eventually got set aside.

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More recently, I discovered I still had all of the notes which I originally had made.  With the additional information now available online I was able to fill in more details.  Many of the participants in those events wrote memoirs, and newspaper reports provided additional descriptions.  I have utilized some biographers and the original research they conducted, but the majority of sources are the first-person accounts I discovered in my research.  The result is this non-fiction chronicle of those crucial days in American history.  Nothing here is made-up.  There are no imaginary conversations nor attempts to imagine what an individual was thinking.  In a couple of cases I placed a conversation in a certain context when the original context was unknown, but the facts contained in the conversations are known to have occurred.

 

I don't claim to be a historian and much of the information contained in this work is perhaps already well-known to those who study American History.  However, though at one time many Americans were well acquainted with these events, the intervening years and additional wars have caused their memory to fade.  Thus, at least, was the case for me.  Thus, getting to know about the issues they struggled with which we are still dealing with today and becoming acquainted with the interesting personalities involved, was very exciting to me.  I hope it will be for you as well.  

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