"The Crisis" is an historical novel published in 1901 by the American novelist Winston Churchill. It was the a bestseller in the United States in the beginning of the 19th century. The novel is set in the years leading up to the first battles of the Civil War, mostly in the divided state of Missouri. It follows the fortunes of young Stephen Brice, a man with sympathies for the South, and his involvement with a Southern family.
Winston Churchill (November 10, 1871 – March 12, 1947) was an American best-selling novelist of the early 20th century. He is nowadays overshadowed, even as a writer, by the more famous British statesman of the same name, to whom he was not related. (Wikipedia)