"The journalist and novelist Daniel Bergner is right . . . to see Africa's civil wars as a horror of our time that deserves exploration . . . Bergner has a keen eye . . . What is of value in this book is less what it says about Sierra Leone than about the human condition."—Adam Hochschild, The New York Times Book Review

"For anyone wanting to understand the history of ideas, this book will be indispensable."—John Gray, The New York Times Book Review

"In Mordecai: An Early American Family, Emily Bingham brings to life a compelling family whose struggles illuminate the first century of the American Republic. From the American Revolution to the Civil War and beyond, this 'little faithful band of love and duty' balanced their devotion to each other, their Jewish faith, and their identity as Southerners through periods of intellectual, political, and economic turmoil. Drawing on published writings and thousands of letters by the men and women of this articulate family, Emily Bingham tells a vivid and fascinating story. The Mordecais take their place as one of the great American families in this lively, compassionate, and probing group portrait."—Joy Kasson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Winner of the National Book Award

"Masterful . . . An important, scholarly work . . . The writing is graceful [and] it endows the story with the majesty and consequence of an epic . . . This is the kind of book that causes students to major in history."—Paul Butler, The Boston Globe

"A worthy overview that acknowledges Wilson's considerable strengths and his many limitations."—Kirkus Reviews

"Michael Breen gives readers an insight into the history and character of a complex people which helps us assess how they might deal with the current complex period in their development."—Catherine Lee, Seoul correspondent, The Economist