Our Man In Charleston

Robert Bunch was the British consul in Charleston South Carolina before and during the American Civil War. He found himself in the impossible position of furthering the British political cause while maintaining neutrality when all around him demanded he side with them in the Civil War. Bunch is against slavery, so finds his situation even more difficult as he tries to thwart the plans of those who would seek to maintain slavery, and would find his actions treasonous to their cause. Bunch must convince his neighbours he is one of them to protect himself and the intelligence he can provide to his government.

I found this to be an excellent book on the American Civil War. The new perspective was an exciting way to approach familiar history. Although I knew the Confederates had hoped to persuade Great Britain to support their side in the war, I did not realize how close Britain had actually came to supporting them despite their abhorrence of the slave trade. I found myself very intrigued from the start of the book. I wanted to learn more about the American Civil War from Bunch, and Great Britain's perspectives.

Our Man In Charleston is a must read for anyone who is interested in the American Civil War. Dickey writes in a very engaging way, and you are swept up in the tensions of the time. I liked the descriptions of the events leading up to and during the war, and how they were combined with Bunch's view and actions. I had not heard of Robert Bunch before, but I am glad I read this book. I was very interested to discover how he reacted to the events as a foreign diplomat. I enjoyed this view of American history, and would recommend reading it.

I read this book as an ebook on my Nook and had no problems with it. The only issue was one of personal preference, and that was when it told me how many pages were left in the chapter it did not do this by individual chapter, but by section of the book. I like to know for the individual chapters to make it easier to find a stopping point.

**I received a free copy of this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review**

*Receiving a free copy of this book does not change my review. It simply provides me with a copy of a book I would not have gotten to as soon or heard about otherwise.