Author Erik Larson in Conversation with Anna Singer

Riverstone Books is delighted to welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Erik Larson to Pittsburgh, in conversation with Anna Singer, about his new book, The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War.

About the Event

Doors open at 6:00 pm, the event will start at 7:00 pm.

• Books will be available for pick-up when you check in at the event.
• Every VIP ticket includes a pre-signed, hardcover copy of The Demon of Unrest.
• For those who wish, after the event, Mr. Larson will personalize books with your first name only, no messages and a maximum of two additional books (besides The Demon of Unrest) may be personalized. He will not be able to sign any posters, bookmarks, etc.
• Additional books by the author will be available for sale at the event.
• Your email confirmation will serve as your ticket. You may print it out and bring it or show us the confirmation on your phone at check-in.
• Event tickets are non-refundable 7 days before the event.
• If you cannot attend the event, we will hold your autographed books at the front counter of Riverstone Squirrel Hill for pick-up. Please give us 24 hours post-event to prepare your books for pick-up or to transfer your book to Riverstone McCandless.
• This ticketed event will take place at the Third Presbyterian Church, 5701 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, located in Shadyside. Limited free parking and disabled parking is available in the church parking lot. Additional parking is available in the Walnut Street parking lots and parking garage, 2 blocks away (see map below). If you need a handicapped parking space at the event, please email olivia@riverstonebooks.com. We will have 8 spaces available which will be reserved on a first come, first served basis.

About the book:

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.

Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.

Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.

About the author:

Erik Larson is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, which examines how Winston Churchill and his “Secret Circle” went about surviving the German air campaign of 1940-41. Erik’s The Devil in the White City is set to be a Hulu limited series; his In the Garden of Beasts is under option by Tom Hanks, for a feature film. He recently published an audio-original ghost story, No One Goes Alone, which has been optioned by Netflix. Erik lives in Manhattan with his wife, who is a writer and retired neonatologist; they have three grown daughters.

About Anna SInger:

Anna Singer enjoys a dual career as radio host for Afternoon Classis on classical music radio station WQED-FM - the Voice of the Arts in Western Pennsylvania - and as an opera singer. Besides the delight of being a host at WQED-FM, she is thrilled to be able to program the music for the station and continues to learn about classical music repertoire.

She sang Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly with New York City Opera and has performed the title roles in productions of Tosca, Salome, and Aida to name a few. Her favorite roles include Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovatore and Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walkure. Recent projects include the role of Julia Child in Lee Hoiby's Bon Appetit!, Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, and Desiree in Sondheim's A little Night Music.

And as importantly, Anna grew up in a family of Civil War buffs.

Every VIP ticket includes a $1.66 City of Pittsburgh Amusement tax and 7% PA sales tax.