Powerful but divergent interests come together in the turbulent political climate of the US. They converge for a common purpose: to fragment the Union that was won so bitterly 150 years ago. In-the-woods libertarians who resented any governmental influence in their lives joined with religious conservatives who felt that modernity had just crossed too many lines. There were wounded men who could not stop themselves from blaming the government, and there were unprincipled opportunists who did not care what they did so long as they got paid. And there were those whose vocation had become self-aggrandizement, who shared the shallow morals of that group. Behind it all was money. In this era of American civilization, it was possible to amass eye-popping amounts of capital, and those who had it used it to amass even more. Opposing them are men and women who are neither rich nor powerful. There are responsible politicians who understand their charge to preserve the Union. There are responsible public servants who take their job as a public trust. And there are the outliers, patriots who use their sometimes-legal skills to preserve the USA in ways that trusted public officials cannot. Can war be avoided? Can the Union survive?