[KC Burke]

I have picked up Road to Disunion a dozen times and failed to buy it. I know it is definitive, but how readable is it for the non-history major?

[general_re]

The prose can bog down in places just due to the sheer detail he presents - his chapters on the Missouri Compromise and the annexation of Texas are among the most thorough I've seen presented anywhere - but overall, Freehling is a good storyteller, and he does a particularly good job of fleshing out the players into fully three-dimensional portraits, rather than just cartoon heroes and villains. As for non-historians, if you have a reasonable working knowledge of the period leading up to the Civil War, then I think you'll find that Freehling does a good job of taking that base foundation and expanding it into a great deal more. It's not a quick weekend read, but it is well worth the effort and time it takes to get through it - it's one of those nice books where I learn something new every time I pick it up. ;)