Francis Wilkinson, Columnist

Migrant Slaves, Sanctuary Cities and the Coming of the Civil War

A Q&A with historian Andrew Delbanco on “The War Before the War.”

November 3, 2018 at 2:00 PM UTC

Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering US politics and policy. Previously, he was executive editor for the Week and a writer for Rolling Stone.

1850: Fugitive slaves about to be recaptured.
Photographer: MPI/Archive Photos

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Andrew Delbanco, professor of American studies at Columbia University, has written a new book: “The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul From the Revolution to the Civil War.”

Like any good history, his tale of American social and political polarization over slavery, which led inexorably to civil war, offers fresh perspective on the present as well as the past. I interviewed him, via email, over several days in October.