Goodreads asked Stephen Puleo:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Stephen Puleo My most recent book is The Caning, which is about the beating of U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Charles Sumner by Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina -- a violent event that I describe as the "no turning back" point on the road to the Civil War. I had always been fascinated by this event -- how it came to the point where a sitting U.S. Senator is beaten to within an inch of his life on the Senate floor. When I began the research, I found out that both Sumner and Brooks were amazingly compelling characters, and that the slavery debate during the 1850s was even more riveting than I had remembered. The book had everything I like: strong characters, great primary sources, and an event that could be used as a crucible for something much larger.

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