"In early 1860, pundits and political operatives across America confidently predicted the victory of Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas in the coming presidential election. Douglas, after all, led the Democrats, the only party that bridged North and South. But the Democracy would splinter over the issue of slavery, opening the way for the upstart Republicans, exclusively Northern, to steal the Oval Office. Dark horse Abraham Lincoln, not the first choice even of his own party, won the presidency with a record-low share of the popular vote. Year of Meteors re-creates the cascade of events that confounded political bosses, set North and South on the road to disunion, and put not Stephen Douglas but his lifelong rival in the White House"--Page 2 of cover.