Christopher Dickey. (2015). Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South. Crown.

Christopher Dickey. 2015. Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South. Crown.

Christopher Dickey, Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South. Crown, 2015.

Christopher Dickey. Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South. Crown, 2015.

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29. • value: military history books
30. • value: history gifts
31. • value: history gifts for men
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1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Dickey, Christopher
   • bioText:

     Award-winning author CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, the foreign editor of The Daily Beast, is based in France. Previously he was the Paris bureau chief and Middle East editor for Newsweek. He served as Cairo bureau chief for the Washington Post and, before that, as the paper's Central America bureau chief. His books include the acclaimed memoir Summer of Deliverance as well as Securing the City, Expats, With the Contras, and two novels about espionage and terrorism.

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title

Our Man in Charleston

fullDescription

Between the Confederacy and recognition by Great Britain stood one unlikely Englishman who hated the slave trade. His actions helped determine the fate of a nation.
 
When Robert Bunch arrived in Charleston to take up the post of British consul in 1853, he was young and full of ambition, but even he couldn’t have imagined the incredible role he would play in the history-making events to unfold. In an age when diplomats often were spies, Bunch’s job included sending intelligence back to the British government in London. Yet as the United States threatened to erupt into Civil War, Bunch found himself plunged into a double life, settling into an amiable routine with his slavery-loving neighbors on the one hand, while working furiously to thwart their plans to achieve a new Confederacy.
 
As secession and war approached, the Southern states found themselves in an impossible position. They knew that recognition from Great Britain would be essential to the survival of the Confederacy, and also that such recognition was likely to be withheld if the South reopened the Atlantic slave trade. But as Bunch meticulously noted from his perch in Charleston, secession’s red-hot epicenter, that trade was growing. And as Southern leaders continued to dissemble publicly about their intentions, Bunch sent dispatch after secret dispatch back to the Foreign Office warning of the truth—that economic survival would force the South to import slaves from Africa in massive numbers. When the gears of war finally began to turn, and Bunch was pressed into service on an actual spy mission to make contact with the Confederate government, he found himself in the middle of a fight between the Union and Britain that threatened, in the boast of Secretary of State William Seward, to “wrap the world in flames.”
 
In this masterfully told story, Christopher Dickey introduces Consul Bunch as a key figure in the pitched battle between those who wished to reopen the floodgates of bondage and misery, and those who wished to dam the tide forever. Featuring a remarkable cast of diplomats, journalists, senators, and spies, Our Man in Charleston captures the intricate, intense relationship between great powers on the brink of war.

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: Joan Didion
   • content: "Our Man in Charleston is a joy to discover. It is a perfect book about an imperfect spy."
2. • premium: False
   • source: Wall Street Journal
   • content: "Thoroughly researched and deftly crafted. [Our Man in Charleston will] introduce people to a man who should be better known, one who cannily fought the good fight at a fateful moment in history."
3. • premium: False
   • source: Boston Globe
   • content: "Dickey tells Bunch's story with aplomb and a good deal of fine wit. On one level, Dickey has written a spicy historical beach read, chock-full of memorable characters and intrigue. But into this page-turning entertainment, Dickey has smuggled a thoughtful examination of the geopolitical issues of the day...splendid."
4. • premium: False
   • source: Christian Science Monitor
   • content: "A fascinating page-turner that takes on special relevance as South Carolina fills our thoughts in the summer of 2015...[Dickey] brings to life a feverish Southern city, an un-united nation of states, and the 'lively and indiscreet, indefatigable and thoroughly British' man in the middle. Dickey...clearly understands the dance of diplomacy that evolves day by day as personalities and priorities change."
5. • premium: False
   • source: Dallas Morning News
   • content: "A dynamite tale of international gamesmanship...Dickey's prose is lively and entertaining. He writes with care for the reader -- identifying and characterizing the major players in the political drama that unfolded."
6. • premium: False
   • source: The Charlotte Observer
   • content: "One heck of a good read."
7. • premium: False
   • source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
   • content: "Dickey tells the story of this unsung hero with dash, clarity and a feel for fine detail. ... Our Man in Charleston blows the dust off this forgotten chapter in history and, remarkably, turns it into a thriller."
8. • premium: False
   • source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
   • content: "A good historical primer on the buildup to the Civil War and a behind-the-scenes look at England's concern for its own future as the conflict unfolded."
9. • premium: False
   • source: Fort Worth Star Telegram
   • content: "A unique history of the War Between the States from the perspective of Bunch and his important, and little-known, role in the outcome of the conflict."
10. • premium: False
    • source: American Scholar
    • content: "[Bunch is] a brilliant find...Dickey, the foreign editor of The Daily Beast and a former longtime Newsweek correspondent, uses his research well: in a story like this one, point of view is everything, and Bunch's is razor sharp."
11. • premium: False
    • source: The Carolina Chronicles
    • content: "Dickey has written a book that is as much suspense and spy adventure as it is a history book... A story as compelling as this one does not come around very often. With so much already written about the Civil War, and more coming every year, originality is a rare thing these days. The story of Robert Bunch is that and more."
12. • premium: False
    • source: Publishers Weekly
    • content: "A fascinating tale of compromise, political maneuvering, and espionage."
13. • premium: False
    • source: Kirkus Reviews (starred)
    • content: "Dickey's comprehension of the mindset of the area, coupled with the enlightening missives from Bunch, provides a rich background to understanding the time period....A great book explaining the workings of what Dickey calls an erratic, cobbled-together coalition of ferociously independent states. It should be in the library of any student of diplomacy, as well as Civil War buffs."
14. • premium: False
    • source: Booklist
    • content: "A fine examination of a superbly skilled diplomat."
15. • premium: False
    • source: James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom<
    • content: "Britain's consul in Charleston before and during the first two years of the Civil War was outwardly pro-Southern and earned notoriety in the North. But in secret correspondence with the British Foreign Office he made clear his hostility to slavery and the Confederacy. His dispatches helped prevent British recognition of the Confederacy. Christopher Dickey has skillfully unraveled the threads of this story in an engrossing account of diplomatic derring-do."
16. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      May 18, 2015
      The ambitious and politically-minded Robert Bunch served as the British consul in Charleston, S.C., from 1853–63, seemingly the ideal choice to represent Great Britain’s interests in the South. But as journalist Dickey (Securing the City) shows, almost no one realized that he had a double agenda. Great Britain had grave concerns during the antebellum period: “England hated slavery, but loved the cotton the slaves raised, and British industry depended on it. Defending Britain’s political interests while serving its commercial interests required constant delicate diplomacy.” Simply put, Bunch’s mission was to subtly sabotage the slave trade and Southern secession, undermining the very institution that produced the goods his country demanded. As Dickey tells it, Bunch was playing with fire, and reader will feel the agent’s mounting frustration as he sends missives back to England, damning the slave trade and Southern arrogance, while wearing a more moderate face for his Charleston neighbors. Bunch’s tale is framed by the larger arguments of the time, including the inexorable march toward war, and the result is a fascinating tale of compromise, political maneuvering, and espionage. Dickey makes it easy to believe that the obscure Bunch really did play a pivotal role during his years in America. Agent: Kathy Robbins, Robbins Office.

17. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      Starred review from May 1, 2015
      In this biography of Robert Bunch, the British consul in Charleston, South Carolina, at the beginning of the Civil War, Daily Beast foreign editor Dickey (Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force-The NYPD, 2010, etc.) illustrates how an outside observer can understand more about a situation than the parties involved. The years leading up to the war were vitally important for the British to understand the feelings and actions of that hotbed of secession and slavery. The British and Americans banned the slave trade in 1807, but the Americans added a proviso of a 20-year delay. Bunch's great talent was in convincing Charlestonians to see him as being on a friendly mission. They revealed their plots, plans, and hopes to him, which he used to compose invaluable dispatches to Britain's virulently anti-slavery government. The author thoroughly understands the point of view of the South regarding the slave trade. Cotton was king, and England was its largest customer. While the production had grown 3,000 percent, the slave population increased only by 150 percent. As new states entered the Union, hopefully as slave states, even more workers would be needed for the labor-intensive industry. Virginia and Maryland, states where cotton had depleted the soil, now bred and sold slaves to the new markets, and some argued that the price of long-standing slaves had grown so much that new "stock" would devalue them. Dickey's comprehension of the mindset of the area, coupled with the enlightening missives from Bunch, provides a rich background to understanding the time period. Bunch's work in Charleston helped guide Britain's decisions regarding the cotton-export ban, the blockade, and whether to recognize the Confederacy. A great book explaining the workings of what Dickey calls an erratic, cobbled-together coalition of ferociously independent states. It should be in the library of any student of diplomacy, as well as Civil War buffs.

      COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

18. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      June 1, 2015
      As the U.S. lurched toward Civil War in the 1850s, Great Britain was far from a disinterested observer. The British textile industry was highly dependent on Southern cotton, and much of that was exported out of the port of Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston was also a hotbed of Southern radicalism, where Fire-Eaters had been preaching secession for years. When hostilities commenced, the newly appointed British consul in Charleston, Robert Bunch, had to play an important but tricky double game. Outwardly, the 32-year-old Bunch played the role of a Confederate sympathizer who mixed easily with the slaveholding aristocracy in Charleston. In reality, he despised slavery and the pretensions to nobility and honor of men who continued to own slaves and still took part in the illegal Atlantic slave trade. His attitude was aligned with British government policy and public opinion, and British naval vessels had interfered with the slave trade for decades. So, despite his publicly friendly face, Bunch used his role to secretly send information back to Britain that helped prevent his government from recognizing Confederate independence. Dickey, the foreign editor of the Daily Beast, tracks Bunch's character, machinations, and achievements in a fine examination of a superbly skilled diplomat.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

19. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      February 1, 2015
      

      The Confederacy desperately wanted recognition from Great Britain, but that country opposed the slave trade, which the Southern states wanted reopened. Southerners thought they had an ally in Robert Bunch, British consul in Charleston, SC, but he truly hated slavery and secretly sent dispatches to the Crown detailing the South's duplicity. From the Paris-based foreign editor of the Daily Beast.

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

20. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      May 15, 2015
      

      Journalist Dickey tells the story of Robert Bunch, a British consul who arrived in Charleston, SC, in 1853. He witnessed and reported to London on the rise of sectional tensions that ultimately led to the Civil War in 1861, specifically focusing on Britain's determination to enforce the end of the Atlantic slave trade. As war began, British dependence on Southern cotton became the Confederacy's trump card in bringing Britain into the war. Bunch maintained a sympathetic veneer that allowed him to gain trust and valuable information from Charleston residents, communicating to British diplomats that the South's antislavery-trade rhetoric aimed to draw the British toward the Confederacy. In telling Bunch's story, Dickey transitions from a slow beginning to a taut ending in which Bunch ultimately is forced to leave Charleston, distrusted by both South and North. Dickey is particularly strong in presenting the often colorful, unreasonable, and desperate secessionists determined to preserve their way of life. VERDICT This account will appeal to general readers and specialists interested in mid-1800s American and British political history, especially the diplomatic aspects of the coming of the Civil War. Its Charleston setting should attract readers focusing on that city's history. [See Prepub Alert, 1/5/15.]--Charles K. Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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Between the Confederacy and recognition by Great Britain stood one unlikely Englishman who hated the slave trade. His actions helped determine the fate of a nation.
 
When Robert Bunch arrived in Charleston to take up the post of British consul in 1853, he was young and full of ambition, but even he couldn’t have imagined the incredible role he would play in the history-making events to unfold. In an age when diplomats often were spies, Bunch’s job included sending intelligence back to the British government in London. Yet as the United States threatened to erupt into Civil War, Bunch found himself plunged into a double life, settling into an amiable routine with his slavery-loving neighbors on the one hand, while working furiously to thwart their plans to achieve a new Confederacy.
 
As secession and war approached, the Southern states found themselves in an impossible position. They knew that recognition from Great Britain would be...

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