Next in the Foundation for Historical Louisiana's Heritage Lecture series will be a talk and book signing by author, scholar and LSU Boyd Professor of History, William J. Cooper, Ph.D. Cooper's new Random House publication is We Have the War Upon Us, a closely observed history of America's antebellum period between Abraham Lincoln’s election in November 1860 and the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861, during which all efforts to avoid or impede secession and prevent war failed. The book traces the story of the men whose decisions and actions during the crisis of the Union resulted in the outbreak of the Civil War. In the book, Cooper shares his understanding of what the major actors said and did: the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, southern secessionists, southern Unionists; why the pro-compromise forces lost; and why the American tradition of sectional compromise failed. He will also reveal how the leaders of the time perceived what was happening and the reasons they gave for their actions: Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, Stephen A. Douglas, William Henry Seward, John J. Crittenden, Charles Francis Adams, John Tyler, James Buchanan, and others. Dr. Cooper is an LSU Distinguished Research Master and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography. He is also the author of Jefferson Davis, American, Liberty and Slavery: Southern Politics to 1860, and many other titles. 6:30 pm at the Old Governor's Mansion, 502 North Boulevard. Free to FHL members; $10 for everyone else. A reception, hosted by Calandro's Fine Wines and Select Cellars, will begin at 6 pm. (225) 387-2464 or fhl.org.