At the Edge of the Precipice: Henry Clay and the Compromise that Saved the Union »

Robert V. Remini, historian of the U.S. House of Representatives, has been teaching and writing about American history for more than half a century. He has written more than twenty books, including the definitive three volume biography The Life of Andrew Jackson, which won the National Book Award (1984). His other books include biographies of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, and Joseph Smith. His Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars won the Spur Award for best western nonfiction from the Western Writers of America. He lives in Wilmette, Illinois.

A National Book Award-winning historian narrates Henry Clay’s heroic brokering of a bipartisan compromise that saved the nation

The Washington Post - Heather Cox Richardson

In a time of rapid change, economic instability and cultural divisions, Clay "understood that politics is not about ideological purity or moral self-righteousness," writes historian of the House of Representatives Robert V. Remini. In his elegant little volume called At the Edge of the Precipice, Remini notes that politics should be about governing, and politicians who cannot compromise cannot govern effectively.