THE TRUTH THEY HIDE. THE SACRIFICE THEY ERASE. THE UNITY WE STILL DESPERATELY NEED. America is being torn apart-but not by who you think. When podcaster Jake Harper inherits a locked briefcase filled with forgotten Civil War letters, census records, battlefield accounts, and suppressed data, he uncovers a truth no one is supposed to say out loud: Division in America isn't accidental. It's engineered. What begins as a personal investigation becomes a national awakening. As Jake and his team trace the original battle over slavery, money, and political power, they discover a pattern that stretches from the plantations of 1860 to the algorithms of 2025: A tiny elite profits when Americans are taught to hate each other. Through forgotten primary sources, emotional testimonies, and explosive historical revelations, The Hidden Flame of Freedom exposes: The real percentage of slaveholding households-and why the political power of the few mattered more than the number of the many How poor whites were economically crushed by slave labor, not benefited by it The widows, orphans, and amputees whose sacrifices ended slavery-and why their stories were erased The modern industry of division: outrage algorithms, activist grifts, and political machines built on grievance How America's shared suffering became the one story no one is allowed to tell As Jake testifies before Congress in the book's shattering climax, he delivers the line already echoing across social media: "A nation built on shared sacrifice cannot survive on manufactured division. Gratitude unites. Grievance sells. And it's time we stopped buying it." If you believe America is better than the forces profiting from our anger, this book will ignite something in you. Part history. Part thriller. Part call to courage. This is the story we were never supposed to remember-and the one that just might save us.