The House Divided

Synopsis

'A masterly engagement with the most delicate and important of subjects - filled with gentle empathy, learning and rare balance' Rory Stewart 'Rogerson is an original - eloquent and always fascinating' William Dalrymple 'This is not a book to be ignored' The Times At the heart of the Middle East, with its regional conflicts and proxy wars, is a 1400-year-old schism between Sunni and Shia. To understand this divide and its modern resonances, we need to revisit its origins, which go back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632, the accidental coup that set aside the claims of his son Ali, and the slaughter of Ali's own son Husayn at Kerbala. These events, known to every Muslim, have created a slender faultline in the Middle East. The House Divided follows these narratives from the first Sunni and Shia caliphates, through the medieval caliphates and empires of the Arabs, Persians and Ottomans, to the contemporary Middle East. It shows how a complex range of identities and rivalries - religious, ethnic and national - have shaped the region, jolted by the seismic shift of the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Rogerson's original approach takes the modern chessboard of nation states and looks at each through its particular history of empires and occupiers, minorities and resources, sheikhs and imams. The result is a book of wide-ranging empathy, understanding and insights.

Summary

Chapter 1: The Road to Division

* Traces the historical roots of the conflict between the North and South, dating back to the founding of the United States.
* Example: The Missouri Compromise of 1820, which admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, highlighted the growing tension over slavery expansion.

Chapter 2: The Coming of the Storm

* Describes the political and economic events that increased tensions in the 1850s, including the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
* Example: The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision in 1857, which ruled that slaves were not citizens and could not sue in federal court, inflamed Northern abolitionists.

Chapter 3: The Breakup of the Union

* Covers the secession of Southern states after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
* Example: South Carolina became the first state to secede in December 1860, followed by six other states in subsequent months.

Chapter 4: The First Battles

* Describes the early military engagements of the Civil War, including the Battle of Fort Sumter and the First Battle of Bull Run.
* Example: The Union's defeat at Bull Run in July 1861 shocked the North and made it clear that the conflict would be a protracted and bloody affair.

Chapter 5: The Turning Tide

* Covers the major military campaigns of 1862 and 1863, including the Battle of Gettysburg and the Siege of Vicksburg.
* Example: General Ulysses S. Grant's victory at Vicksburg in July 1863 gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, a significant turning point in the war.

Chapter 6: The Emancipation Proclamation

* Discusses the political and military impact of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves free in Confederate-held territory.
* Example: The proclamation undermined support for the Confederacy abroad and weakened its morale at home.

Chapter 7: The End of the War

* Describes the final campaigns of the war, including the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House.
* Example: Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, effectively ended the Civil War, although fighting continued in some areas until the summer of 1865.

Chapter 8: The Legacy of the Civil War

* Examines the social, economic, and political consequences of the Civil War, including the abolition of slavery and the Reconstruction era.
* Example: The Civil War reshaped the United States, leading to a more unified nation but also leaving behind a legacy of racial inequality and sectionalism.