America's war against itself developed slowly, pressing on people in all walks and ways of life. The Bingham family-of New England, then rural New York, then the great city of New York-was, like everyone else, caught up in deep, churning passions. The Bingham men, as they struggle toward the lives and loves they long for, reach into realms of commerce, politics, diplomacy, journalism. Bingham women, almost too strong for the roles society imposes, strive to be as they see themselves. Though fictive, their stories are historical reincarnations, since Yankee Doric mirrors faithfully the age and its people.