Lincoln, Abraham

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Average customer rating:

Not bad . . . for a hagiography
Still The Greatest!
A good read even if you're not a history buff
Add Me to the List of the Many Who Salute this Masterpiece!
Impressive effort

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743270754

Amazon.com

The life and times of Abraham Lincoln have been analyzed and dissected in countless books. Do we need another Lincoln biography? In Team of Rivals, esteemed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin proves that we do. Though she can't help but cover some familiar territory, her perspective is focused enough to offer fresh insights into Lincoln's leadership style and his deep understanding of human behavior and motivation. Goodwin makes the case for Lincoln's political genius by examining his relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, all of whom were opponents for the Republican nomination in 1860: William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates. These men, all accomplished, nationally known, and presidential, originally disdained Lincoln for his backwoods upbringing and lack of experience, and were shocked and humiliated at losing to this relatively obscure Illinois lawyer. Yet Lincoln not only convinced them to join his administration--Seward as secretary of state, Chase as secretary of the treasury, and Bates as attorney general--he ultimately gained their admiration and respect as well. How he soothed egos, turned rivals into allies, and dealt with many challenges to his leadership, all for the sake of the greater good, is largely what Goodwin's fine book is about. Had he not possessed the wisdom and confidence to select and work with the best people, she argues, he could not have led the nation through one of its darkest periods.

Ten years in the making, this engaging work reveals why "Lincoln's road to success was longer, more tortuous, and far less likely" than the other men, and why, when opportunity beckoned, Lincoln was "the best prepared to answer the call." This multiple biography further provides valuable background and insights into the contributions and talents of Seward, Chase, and Bates. Lincoln may have been "the indispensable ingredient of the Civil War," but these three men were invaluable to Lincoln and they played key roles in keeping the nation intact. --Shawn Carkonen

The Team of Rivals

Team of Rivals doesn't just tell the story of Abraham Lincoln. It is a multiple biography of the entire team of personal and political competitors that he put together to lead the country through its greatest crisis. Here, Doris Kearns Goodwin profiles five of the key players in her book, four of whom contended for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination and all of whom later worked together in Lincoln's cabinet.

1. Edwin M. Stanton
Stanton treated Lincoln with utter contempt at their initial acquaintance when the two men were involved in a celebrated law case in the summer of 1855. Unimaginable as it might seem after Stanton's demeaning behavior, Lincoln offered him "the most powerful civilian post within his gift"--the post of secretary of war--at their next encounter six years later. On his first day in office as Simon Cameron's replacement, the energetic, hardworking Stanton instituted "an entirely new regime" in the War Department. After nearly a year of disappointment with Cameron, Lincoln had found in Stanton the leader the War Department desperately needed. Lincoln's choice of Stanton revealed his singular ability to transcend personal vendetta, humiliation, or bitterness. As for Stanton, despite his initial contempt for the man he once described as a "long armed Ape," he not only accepted the offer but came to respect and love Lincoln more than any person outside of his immediate family. He was beside himself with grief for weeks after the president's death.
2. Salmon P. Chase
Chase, an Ohioan, had been both senator and governor, had played a central role in the formation of the national Republican Party, and had shown an unflagging commitment to the cause of the black man. No individual felt he deserved the presidency as a natural result of his past contributions more than Chase himself, but he refused to engage in the practical methods by which nominations are won. He had virtually no campaign and he failed to conciliate his many enemies in Ohio itself. As a result, he alone among the candidates came to the convention without the united support of his own state. Chase never ceased to underestimate Lincoln, nor to resent the fact that he had lost the presidency to a man he considered his inferior. His frustration with his position as secretary of the treasury was alleviated only by his his dogged hope that he, rather than Lincoln, would be the Republican nominee in 1864, and he steadfastly worked to that end. The president put up with Chase's machinations and haughty yet fundamentally insecure nature because he recognized his superlative accomplishments at treasury. Eventually, however, Chase threatened to split the Republican Party by continuing to fill key positions with partisans who supported his presidential hopes. When Lincoln stepped in, Chase tendered his resignation as he had three times before, but this time Lincoln stunned Chase by calling his bluff and accepting the offer.
3. Abraham Lincoln
When Lincoln won the Republican presidential nomination in 1860 he seemed to have come from nowhere--a backwoods lawyer who had served one undistinguished term in the House of Representatives and lost two consecutive contests for the U.S. Senate. Contemporaries attributed his surprising nomination to chance, to his moderate position on slavery, and to the fact that he hailed from the battleground state of Illinois. But Lincoln's triumph, particularly when viewed against the efforts of his rivals, owed much to a remarkable, unsuspected political acuity and an emotional strength forged in the crucible of hardship and defeat. That Lincoln, after winning the presidency, made the unprecedented decision to incorporate his eminent rivals into his political family, the cabinet, was evidence of an uncanny self-confidence and an indication of what would prove to others a most unexpected greatness.
4. William H. Seward
A celebrated senator from New York for more than a decade and governor of his state for two terms before going to Washington, Seward was certain he was going to receive his party's nomination for president in 1860. The weekend before the convention in Chicago opened he had already composed a first draft of the valedictory speech he expected to make to the Senate, assuming that he would resign his position as soon as the decision in Chicago was made. His mortification at not having received the nomination never fully abated, and when he was offered his cabinet post as secretary of state he intended to have a major role in choosing the remaining cabinet members, conferring upon himself a position in the new government more commanding than that of Lincoln himself. He quickly realized the futility of his plan to relegate the president to a figurehead role. Though the feisty New Yorker would continue to debate numerous issues with Lincoln in the years ahead, exactly as Lincoln had hoped and needed him to do, Seward would become his closest friend, advisor, and ally in the administration. More than any other cabinet member Seward appreciated Lincoln's peerless skill in balancing factions both within his administration and in the country at large.
5. Edward Bates
A widely respected elder statesman, a delegate to the convention that framed the Missouri Constitution, and a former Missouri congressman whose opinions on national matters were still widely sought, Bates's ambitions for political success were gradually displaced by love for his wife and large family, and he withdrew from public life in the late 1840s. For the next 20 years he was asked repeatedly to run or once again accept high government posts but he consistently declined. However in early 1860, with letters and newspaper editorials advocating his candidacy crowding in upon him, he decided to try for the highest office in the land. After losing to Lincoln he vowed, in his diary, to decline a cabinet position if one were to be offered, but with the country "in trouble and danger" he felt it was his duty to accept when Lincoln asked him to be attorney general. Though Bates initially viewed Lincoln as a well-meaning but incompetent administrator, he eventually concluded that the president was an unmatched leader, "very near being a 'perfect man.'"

The Essential Doris Kearns Goodwin

Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir
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More New Reading on the Civil War

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Book Description

This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln's mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation's history.

Customer Reviews:

Not bad . . . for a hagiography.......2007-07-02

Lincoln is probably the most written-about President in American history. There are massive comprehensive volumes written about his life and presidency. Goodwin tries to go a different route here -- telling a political history with an emphasis on the dirty dealing and coalition-building that is the real business of politics.

For the most part, the book is succesful. Lincoln was brilliant in his ability to hold together the shaky Republican coalition. He worked extremely hard early in his career to build up his credentials and did a good job of holding together his "Team of Rivals" through the Civil War. The first part of the book is my favorite as it really gives an impression of what life was really like in the mid-19th century. All of these men lost loved ones to war, disease, childbirth and misfortune. The 1850's and 60's were one of the most fascinating eras in American history, when the country went from almost universal support of slavery to almost universal opposition, with border states voting away slavery of their own accord by 1865. Lincoln had to ride that sea change in politics and, for the most part, did it well. He himself was part of the change, gradually shedding the racist ideals he supported in the Lincoln-Douglas era.

The only reason I'm not completely sold on the book is that it is a hagiography. To listen to Goodwin, Lincoln never made a mistake, never screwed up and never did anything wrong. Even sticking with McClellan after he betrayed Pope at Second Bull Run was just good politics! And anything bad that was done -- such as closing down opposition newspapers -- was somebody else's fault.

She ignores or glosses over anything controversial. I, for one, think the allegation that Lincoln tried to have Justice Tanney arrested is false (it's based on a single witness). But she never even addresses it. Of Bates' defense of the Merryman case, she claims "the logic was unanswerable" -- despite people answering it for the last 150 years. She glosses over the brutal supression of the draft riots, only mentions arrests of opposition figures and shutting down of newspapers when Lincoln came out looking good. Does not even address the tyrannical means he used to keep Maryland in the union. Makes only a token gesture to the devastation the war inflicted upon the south.

It is possible to justify these things -- many historians have. It is not possible to simply ignore them.

Other figures get equally bright halos. In fact, the only people who come off badly are Mary Lincoln, McClellan and Salmon Chase.

To be honest, I don't understand the hype. It's a good history book, but not a great one. The writing style is plain. But there aren't any new amazing insights. Like I said, it's a good book if you have an interest in American history and/or the oily machinery of politics. But there are far better biographies of Lincoln out there.

Still The Greatest!.......2007-06-27

As an educator, I wished that I could give this work by Doris Kearns Goodwin to every student in the school of leadership. Lincoln could have run a clinic for politicians. His rivals could have taken the dubious honor of teaching today's politicians what NOT to do. It was a tremendously enjoyable odyssey through the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. Goodwin has solidly established herself as a most capable biographer of historical figures. This book shows why. It is not as much about Lincoln as much as it is about his rivals, the men who considered themselves more educated, more successful, better known, in short, more likely to lead the nation at this most crucial hour in its history.
It is delilciously intriguing to see this band of haughty, but capable men, one by one, fall under the spell of the man everyone underestimated. Indeed,Goodwin masterfully presents Lincoln's competitors in the way everyone saw them at the time, while accurately portraying Lincoln as that little-known prairie lawyer from Illinois.
With his extraordinary ability to empathize with the human plight, and his adamant refusal to hold a political grudge, Lincoln quietly and imperceptibly built his sphere of influence, and put himself in position to wrest the Republican nomination from men, who by all standards were far more qualified than he. His razor sharp mind and iron will, which he seemed to have an uncanny knack for exerting at just the right time, forced even the most arrogant and condescending of politicians, Salmon P. Chase to admit that he had been outfoxed. But with malice toward none, Lincoln offered him and the other rivals a place in his cabinet. No wonder he transcended his time, as Stanton stated, and "belongs to the ages".
The book is quite voluminous,(over 700 pages), and will take a while to finish, but it is well worth it.

A good read even if you're not a history buff.......2007-06-27

I received a recommendation for this book by my boss. The narative is outstanding and I find myself drawn to learn more of Lincoln and his peers.

Add Me to the List of the Many Who Salute this Masterpiece!.......2007-06-22

Every parent should encourage his or her child to read at least one biography of Lincoln and this would be an outstanding choice. Goodwin's masterpiece portrays Lincoln's unarguable greatness. No other American life is so inspirational, in my estimation. Lincoln's commitment to the ideal of saving the nation and emancipating the slaves, often in the face of withering personal criticism, is staggering in its nobility. Although I am politically poles apart from Goodwin, I heartily salute her scholarship in this instance and her ability to tell such an epic story in a manner that touches the reader's heart as well as his brain. Her book is truly a tour de force and should be read by all Americans.

Impressive effort.......2007-06-16

Goodwin's much-praised, massive "multiple quasi-biography" of Abraham Lincoln and the contentious men who composed his Civil War-time Cabinet proved to be worth my wait - though not without its share of flaws. Lincoln is the clear hero of the tale, the oft-"mis-underestimated" man whose rivals for the 1860 Republican Presidential nomination - William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates - regarded him with a mixture of condescension and exasperation. The "Illinois country lawyer" proved to have an unsurpassed ability to take such individuals into his administration and keep their disagreements from erupting into internecine warfare that might have seriously damaged the cause of the Union during the war. Goodwin may slightly overstate the "Lincoln magic" at times in her desire to portray the man's "political genius", but Lincoln's ability to pour oil on troubled waters truly was remarkable and is a model of Presidential leadership.
Goodwin paints on such a broad canvas and includes so many different events and individuals that it should probably not be surprising that her narrative contains a few loose threads and gaps. Remarkably, her discussion of the Lincoln-Douglas debates says nothing about the Freeport Doctrine and its role as a point of contention between the candidates. Characters such as General Winfield Scott and Count Adam Gurowski are mentioned numerous times but are never "formally" introduced to the reader. The opening 200 or so pages also drag a bit, as Goodwin meticulously traces the lives of the "rivals" from the beginning. Those searching for the "red meat" of political infighting and Cabinet squabbles will have a long wait in store for them if they begin at the beginning. Overall, though, this is a fine read and a good contribution to the vast literature on the Civil War era.

The Civil War: A Narrative (3 Volume Set)

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Standard Text for the ACW
Cilvi War
Superior Civil War Series
Great drama, history and literature
Great books about the American Civil War

The Civil War: A Narrative (3 Volume Set)
Shelby Foote
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0307290468

Book Description

The Civil War: A Narrative (Hardcover, 3 Vol. Gift Set)

A stunning literary and historical achievement, the three volumes of Shelby Foote's THE CIVIL WAR vividly bring to life the four years of torment and strife that altered American life forever. Presented in a handsome boxed set, these three beautifully bound hardcovers are an essential addition to every American history collection.

Taking the reader from the drama of Jefferson Davis's resignation from the United States Senate and Abraham Lincoln's arrival in the nation's capital to Davis's final flight and capture and Lincoln's tragic death, Foote covers his subject with astonishing depth and scope. Every battle, every general, and every statesman has its place in this monumental narrative, told in lively prose that captures the sights, smells, and sounds of the conflict. Never before have the great battles and personalities of the Civil War been so excitingly presented, and never before has the story been told so completely.

With a novelist's gift for narrative and a historian's commitment to research, Shelby Foote's epic retelling is the definitive account of the Civil War, a trilogy that has earned a place of honor on the bookshelves of all Americans.

Customer Reviews:

Standard Text for the ACW.......2007-05-27

I have looked at this series of books each time I have visited the USA. Never been able to buy because of the sheer weight of the series.

For me this is the standard text on the American Civil War and will provide me with months of reading. This edition comes in a folio-style box for added protection. The paper quality could be better, but for me the words are the important part of any book.

Happy reading

Cilvi War.......2007-05-14

so far i have gotten about half way through the first vol. I not only see the problens they were having but it appears to me that if the congress does'n stop fight we will have anothe civl war it very sicken to the shape of that the county is in becasue those in Washington haven't sightest idea of what the majority want but back to the books i thing that is money well spent

Superior Civil War Series.......2007-05-13

One of the best histories of the Civil War in existence. Written by a fine University of North Carolina product.

Great drama, history and literature.......2007-04-26

I am a US Civil War buff and have read quite a few books on the subject. From an audio-visual point of view, nothing comes close the excellence achieved by Ken and Rick Burns with their long documentary on the war. A central anchor to that series is the (late) gentleman with the southern drawl, Shelby Foote. Having started out as a dramatic writer of some note, he turned his attention to the Civil War and spent about 25 years researching and writing this magnificent literary masterpiece. Anyone with enough time can read the statistics and stories that made the war what it was. However, you would need substantial talent to weave the whole story into a narrative, rather than a dry history. That is what Mr. Foote chose to do and he took criticism over his style. He had no footnotes, complained that they would just interupt the flow of the narrative style. I accept that his judgement was correct.

Over three very large volumes we read a story, a narrative, that refers to the war in very human terms, often sourcing the moment out of the letters written by average soldiers, anacdotes that add color and keep us turning the pages for more. There are few history books written in this way because it is difficult; you have to be a talented writer and paint with words on a large canvas. This Foote did with panache, humor, wit, context and a respect for both sides of the conflict.

Foote had his heros and rascals. He greatly admired southern legend Nathan Bedford Forrest, spoke of the ferocious capacities of Stonewall Jackson, captured the essence of both Lee and Grant and so much more. He gently but surely chastised McClellan for his weaknesses but kindly remembers his strengths. I challenge anyone not to be moved to tears as he recounts the final hours of General Lee's flight and then capitulation to General Grant.

There is so much to savor and if not 100% precise in all details the errors are minor when seen in the context of when it was written. I cannot imagine a better narrative history of that war to come into the language. Superb.

Great books about the American Civil War.......2007-04-17

These books are an excellent subject of reading if you are very interested in the American Civil War. Shelby Foote write these three volumes in a fascinating way. It almost gives you a feeling that he has experienced the civil war himself. Very lively written. Once you start reading you can't stop.

Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times

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Leadership During ALL Times
Great viewpoint on focusing on people
Lessons on Leadership
Excellent and well-worth reading.
History can be the best teacher.

Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times
Donald T. Phillips
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446394599

Customer Reviews:

Leadership During ALL Times.......2007-04-28

Donald T. Phillips used our sixteenth president's wisdom under fire to provide an excellent primer for leadership focused on tough times, but it is as important during good times. When sales are at record levels, employees are happily working long hours, and new prospects are pounding on the doors because of customers' recommendations, is when one needs to be preparing for potential tough times.

Few will go through the meat-grinder which faced President Lincoln, but able leadership during good times will give an organization a firm footing for the mishaps and misfortunes which will affect us all at some point. Focusing on the 'Endeavor' section of the book, Phillips illustrates examples of Lincoln's will, ability, and lack of hesitation in making tough, necessary decisions. Losing a war, being sniped at by those who should be supporters, and struggling with difficult family matters can be paralyzing, but ignoring a personnel issue so as to not rock the boat during a smooth voyage can also be destructive. Phillips points out how "Lincoln often accepted the aggravation and exasperation caused by subordinates if they did their jobs competently", but he also shows how Lincoln could be decisive and tough when his hand was forced. This includes disciplining and firing upper level staff such as cabinet secretaries and commanding generals.

Any review of Lincoln's life would be incomplete without mentioning his use of humor and a unique storytelling ability to make his point. Phillips recounts Lincoln's reason for doing so, which includes these lines: "I often avoid a long and useless discussion by others or a laborious explanation on my own part by a short story that illustrates my point of view." "No, I am not simply a story-teller, but story-telling as an emollient saves me much friction and distress." Oh, if only more of our business and government leaders would use short stories, saving us all some "friction and distress".

The chapter titled "Persuade Rather Than Coerce" explains that Lincoln was smart enough to know that he couldn't do it all by himself, but needed capable leaders who were authorized to make decisions and act on them. His largest problem with military leadership was a gauntlet of generals who were not willing to assume that responsibility. Understanding that influence is a more effective tool of leadership than coercion or orders, he "...preferred to let his generals make their own decisions and hoped that, through his suggestions, they would do the right thing."

That chapter begins with a quote from the first Lincoln Douglas debate: With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. Looking back at the presidents of my lifetime, it is easy to see which have taken this advice to heart, and have shown success because of it. Likewise, those who have ignored it, and a recent president comes to mind, have had their leadership suffer.

Paraphrasing John C. Maxwell, there is no such thing as `leadership during tough times'; there is only `leadership'. Those fond of history and anyone interested in leadership should read this book.

Great viewpoint on focusing on people.......2007-04-23

This book is one of the best management/leadership books I have ever read. It was giving to me by one of my business school professors who I respect and admire greatly. The book will not disappoint you if you decide to buy it. Worth the time and money!

Lessons on Leadership.......2007-03-31

This is a great book for individuals entering the business world to read how leadership and ethics can and should lead to excellent decision-making skills.

Excellent and well-worth reading........2007-03-31

This book is well written and will appeal to a very wide range of readers, including but not limited to Lincoln scholars and those interested in leadership. Readers who are interested in history, business, politics and those who just like well-written prose should enjoy this book. As the title states, this book is about Lincoln's leadership style. He is portrayed as a paradigm of an effective leader. The book covers topics such as: his interactions with people, his character, his decisiveness, and his immense skills as a communicator. Each chapter covers a different facet of leadership and how Lincoln typified this feature. At the end of each chapter there is brief discussion of how this applies to current day business and politics. There is also a brief summary list of Lincoln's principles discussed in that chapter. The book itself is brief and you can learn a lot from the way that Lincoln interacted with and led people during the most trying time in America's history.

While the focus of the book is on Lincoln's leadership, I learned quite a bit about the man and the challenges that he faced and how he shaped the subsequent government of the US. This was done in a very interesting manner, which was devoid of the dense details of a history book. I got more from this brief book than from some much more detailed books on the Civil War. The book is replete with Lincoln anecdotes, jokes and parables, all of which enrich the text and get the points across in much the same way Lincoln initially used them to get his points across. The best accolade that I can give this book as that it is making me read more about Lincoln and about leadership.

History can be the best teacher........2007-03-19

Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips was an easy to read book. Teaching basics of leadership through 4 parts of the book; People, Character, Endeavor, and Communications. Then each part is broken into chapters with a trait of the 4 previous mentioned parts like: Get out of the office and circulate among the troops, build strong alliances, Honesty and Integrity are the best policy, lead by being led and master the art of public speaking to name some. All of these lessons are taught with President Lincoln as the vehicle and shows how he applied the lessons during the Civil War as President. Each chapter is summed up with a nice list of key points. A well organized book, with a message for everyone. Abraham Lincoln is an icon of American history and a great teacher and example of leadership to people today. All the lessons can be applied at work, home, family, or in our personal life. This is a great book for new leaders and even the experienced can use it as a reminder and reference. It will always have a place on my bookshelf. I encourage everyone to read it.

Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography

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Gienapp Let-Down
magnificent!
My Captain!
Abraham Lincoln And Civil War America
Abraham Lincoln in one slim volume.

Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography
William E. Gienapp
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195151003

Book Description

Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America is a short biography aimed at a general audience but because of its short length will also be suitable for use as a supplementary text in college courses in American History. The biography concentrates on Lincoln's years as president, with particular emphasis upon his role in determining the course and outcome of the Civil War.

Customer Reviews:

Gienapp Let-Down.......2006-11-08

Bill Gienapp was a brilliant historian, and his work "The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856" is a pillar of American political history. Unfortunately, his final work, "Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America," is a tremendous let-down. It is perhaps one of the worst examinations of Lincoln's life, and has almost nothing to do with "Civil War America." Essentially, it is an unqualified love poem to Lincoln, and strives only to prove his greatness -- there is no critical analysis at all. Lincoln is given credit for every political and military success 1861-1865 and is absolved from blame for all his mistakes. In reality, Lincoln was a complex personality and his public career was much more tumultuous than Gienapp proposes. It is disappointing that Gienapp, a man who dedicated his life to exhaustive, nearly flawless historical research would resort to such frivolous, uncritical "pop history" at the end of his tragically short life. Skip Gienapp's Lincoln and, instead, read Stephen Oates's "With Malice Toward None" or Don Fehrenbacher's "Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850s."

magnificent!.......2006-06-27

A short, but very well biography of Lincoln. It counts only 250 pages, but it gives an excellent overwiew and superb analyse of the life of AL. The bibliography is also very interesting. One of the best books about the 16th president. A must for a Lincolnhistorian.

My Captain!.......2005-04-04

A good short, solid political biography. While Lincoln and the Civil War is its focus, by no means is this a battle history: Gettysburg is described in one paragraph.

Professor Gienapp has written a book that will introduce one to, or remind one of, the long and trying path traveled by Abraham Lincoln toward ultimate greatness.

Abraham Lincoln And Civil War America.......2002-03-23

William Gienapp's Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America answers a longstanding need for a biography of Lincoln manageable in size, accessible in style, and wise and balanced in content. Lincoln appers on every page of the book and is never lost sight of in the welter of events. He emerges from the text a real believable person, an individual and persuasive assessment of Lincoln's leadership abilities, the finest such appraisal avilable anywhere.

Abraham Lincoln in one slim volume........2002-03-10

This book is a welcome addition ot the already crowded Lincolnia bookself. The author is the presumed successor to the retired David Herbert Donald at Harvard University. Gienapp has produced a highly readable and concise version of a Lincoln biography that can be completed on a moderately long airplane trip(and it's quite portable unlike most hardcover books). While relatively short,this book is a sufficiently thorough treatment of the Civil War Lincoln. I especially enjoyed the author's analysis of the politician Lincoln who mastered his rivals, both Republican and Democrat. This a good book for either a new Lincoln /Civil War "buff" or a good refresher for a scholar of the times.

The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows

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Lincoln and the Gettysburg Gospel is a Gem of Exegetical Clarification of the greatest political speech in world history.
More Focus Please!
Read Wills Instead
More About the Town
A Striking Comparison to our Time

The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows
Gabor Boritt
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743288203

Book Description

The words Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg comprise perhaps the most famous speech in history. It has been quoted by popes, presidents, prime ministers, and revolutionaries around the world. From "Four score and seven years ago..." to "government of the people, by the people, for the people," Lincoln's words echo in the American conscience. Many books have been written about the Gettysburg Address and yet, as Lincoln scholar Gabor Boritt shows, there is much that we don't know about the speech. In The Gettysburg Gospel he reconstructs what really happened in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863. Boritt tears away a century of myths, lies, and legends to give us a clear understanding of the greatest American's greatest speech.

In the aftermath of the bloodiest battle ever fought in North America, the little town of Gettysburg was engulfed in the worst man-made disaster in U.S. history: close to 21,000 wounded; very few doctors; heroic women coping in houses, barns, and churches turned into hospitals; dead horses and mules rotting in farmyards and fields; and at least 7,000 dead soldiers who had to be dug up, identified, and reburied. This was where Lincoln had to come to explain why the horror of war must continue.

Planning America's first national cemetery revitalized the traumatized people of Gettysburg, but the dedication ceremonies overwhelmed the town. Lincoln was not certain until the last moment whether he could come. But he knew the significance of the occasion and wrote his remarks with care -- the first speech since his inauguration that he prepared before delivering it. A careful analysis of the Address and the public reaction to it form the center of this book. Boritt shows how Lincoln responded to the politics of the time and also clarifies which text he spoke from and how and when he wrote the various versions. Few people initially recognized the importance of the speech; it was frequently and, at times, hilariously misreported. But over the years the speech would grow into American scripture. It would acquire new and broader meanings. It would be better understood, but also misunderstood and misinterpreted to suit beliefs very different from Lincoln's.

The Gettysburg Gospel is based on years of scholarship as well as a deep understanding of Lincoln and of Gettysburg itself. It draws on vital documents essential to appreciating Lincoln's great speech and its evolution into American gospel. This is an indispensable book for anyone interested in the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, or American history.

Customer Reviews:

Lincoln and the Gettysburg Gospel is a Gem of Exegetical Clarification of the greatest political speech in world history........2007-05-31

The Gettysburg Address was delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. The battle had been fought in July but now a National Cemetery was to dedicated honoring the Union dead who had died that the United States might live.
What a day it was ! A beautiful autumn crisp with the promise of a warm sky sailing serenly over the sight of the bloodiest batlle in American history. A day when the renowned orator Edward Everett spoke for over two hours drawing analogies between Gettysburg and those men who died to preserve Athenian democracy. Everett gave a detailed account of the battle emphasizing the legitimacy of the Union effort. He also spoke with insight on the superiority of the federal government to which the individual states pledged their loyalty.
And then...after the bands and the songs, the prayers and the cheers were silent the sixteenth President of the United States rose to speak. He had a mild form of smallpox; had lost his son Willie to death in the White House and had a son Tad who was ill back home in Washington DC.
Lincoln spoke his 272 words concluding with his immortal words, "''that the goverment of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Lincoln drew on a lifetime of study to produce this masterpiece. The Declaration of Independence; the oratory of Webster and Clay, Shakespeare and the Bible all played a role in his crafting of the speech. If the Emancipation Proclamation was prose genius then the Gettysburg Address is poetry sublime in its assertion of indivdual freedom and the right of human beings to breathe free air.
The speech was neglected, for the most part, by contemporary press accounts. Only in the 1880s when the movement to reconcile NOrth and South picked up steam did it take on an importance in the American heart that has never been usurped, The GA inspired black fighters for Civil Rights as the twentieth century led to a cry for racial equality in our nation. Men like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela in South Africa were inspired by Lincoln's words.
Boritt's book is divided into several sections. The first two hundred pages deal with the account of the night and the day Lincoln spent in Gettysburg in 1863. We learn of the horrific battlefield casualties and see closeup the preparations made and the carrying out of the ceremony on November 19th. Other sections deal with the five authentic copies of the Gettysburg Address; the complete text of Edward Everett's two hour oration that day; an extensive bibliography and notes. Professor Boritt also shows us pictures of the drafts as written in longhand by Lincoln.
The book is also a fascinating look into how the Gettysburg Address achieved mythic fame since it was first uttered on that November day. In a moving final chapter we read the address in the context of a 9-11 obervance of the attack on the World Trade Center.
As long as our United States lives we all pray that the Gettysburg Address will be there to inspire us to work for equality and justice for all of our citizens regardless of race, religion or political affiliation.
Boritt is one of the best scholars on the life of Lincoln and the Civil War era. Anyone who teaches the Civil War in the classroom should make use of this outstanding work of scholarship and love.

More Focus Please!.......2007-04-15

Boritt's 'Gettysburg Gospel' is one of the very few Civil War books that I could not get into. Stylistically, this book is way too haphazard and unorganized to be considered one of the best books in the Lincoln cannon. Boritt falls into the trap that Garry Wills fell into in his "Lincoln at Gettysburg." The two authors try to be over-elegant and verbose because their book itself is about one of the greatest triumphs of the English language rather then a singular event. Boritt (and Wills for that matter) would be better to just write in a plain, inelegant fashion without the grossly excessive verbiage which permeates this book. Wills, in all fairness, can get away with it, but the more academic Boritt has a difficult time indeed. For example, Boritt writes early on in describing the dead on the battlefield: "Others even pulled bodies from shallow graves. A weapon is worth a great deal. Who cares who the dead man was? Who was it? Dead." This kind of useless prose brings the momentum of this book down time and time again.

For Civil War enthusiasts themselves, many already knew that Everett went on for a very long time before Lincoln delivered his address. One of the things that surprised me was the lack of analysis of the address itself. That disappointed me because the book was subtitled as: `The Lincoln Speech Nobody Knows." In order to get a fresh analysis that Wills does not offer in his book, the reader will have to turn to the appendix to get the several versions of the address. Overall, more focus and less sentimentality would have made for a leaner, more coherent account of the making of the address and it's meaning through the last 140 years.

Read Wills Instead.......2007-04-08

The main text of this book is a loose, often disjointed accumulation of facts surrounding the dedication of the cemetery. That portion of the book is mostly filler since only a small portion deals with the Address. If that were the whole book, I would give it 2 stars. However, the Appendices, including Everett's full address, all versions of Lincoln's Address, and the scientific evaluations of the relative accuracies of the versions, are very enlightening. Read Wills' Lincoln at Gettysburg for a much more insightful book on the speech itself. Skip the text in this one and go directly to the Appendices.

More About the Town.......2007-02-16

This is a great history of the Gettysburg Address, but more, it is an extremely good look at the town of Gettysburg after the battle was over. Mr. Boritt describes the carnage - rotting and burning horseflesh, shallow graves, piles of amputated limbs, etc. - in vivid detail. He then chronicles the herculean efforts of those who handled the carnage, treated the wounded and buried the dead. These tireless workers were left behind by the armies, citizens of the town or volunteers who came to help. The first person accounts were vivid.

Mr. Boritt, having set the stage for the ceremony of the dedication of the cemetery, then describes the ceremony with good looks at Everett's speech and then Lincoln's. He carries descriptions from its writing through delivery to the aftermath. He also breaks the speech down sentence by sentence. His analysis is not pedantic. He interestingly gives the meaning as heard by the differing audiences; i.e.: you hear what you want to hear.

Following the speech, he relates the reaction around the country and Confederacy and ends with the speech's legacy over the 140 years since its delivery.

One might wonder how a 400+ page book can be devoted to a speech of some 270 words. The narrative is 206 pages, the remaining 209 consist of appendices and index. The appendices are interesting. There is the full text of Everett's speech, an analysis of the Address and the different wording as reported by those who heard it and a summation of what has happended to the manuscripts of the speech.

As good as the analysis of the Gettysgurg Address is, and it is excellent, what makes this book a rich history is the account of the town of Gettysburg. That well be the most memorable part of the book. Rarely has there been such an in depth description of what remains in a town and how it functions after a terrific battle has taken place there.

Highly recommended for Lincoln scholars and readers who appreciate good historical writing.

A Striking Comparison to our Time.......2007-02-16

I, like I suppose many others, had to memorize the Gettysburg Address in high school. It was just another assignment, I don't remember if I did it well or not. Many years later I spent a few days touring Gettysburg. On the last day I took a tour of the cemetary. The guide showed us around and then as his closing comments he recited the address. His voice was not spectacular. His delivery was not the greatest. But surrounded by the war dead, in the place where it happened, by the end there was not a dry eye on the field.

I found it hard to read Boritt's book and keep a dry eye. What a horrendous battle. What a miserable war. And of course the Democrats and the press during this time were just as virulent as they are today, perhaps even more so in their attacks on Lincoln.

But most of that is forgotten. Instead Lincoln's words live on, and on. We are engaged now in a battle home, a battle abroad, and perhaps are at just the start of a very long very nasty religious war. I do not see any of our politicians, of either party, nor any of the radio commentators able to say anything as well as Lincoln. I wish I could.

Average customer rating:

Gorgeous
Brilliant narrative and photography of Abraham Lincoln
Sumptuous Photography
draws on an incredible variety of sources...
You must have this book

Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography
Philip B. Jr Kunhardt , Philip B. Iii Kunhardt , and Peter W. Kunhardt
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679408622
Release Date: 1992-10-20

Book Description

2 cassettes / 3 hours
Read by Frank Langella

An AudioBook to be treasured by all history buffs: the companion volume to the ABC TV documentary.

This remarkable biography presents Abraham Lincoln as we have never before seen him. The insightful and vibrant narrative draws extensively on diaries, letters, and other primary sources to provide a remarkably close-up view of Lincoln: the boy, the homespun politician, the president, the military leader, the man with his family. Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III and Peter W. Kunhardt give us the fascinating life - from birth to death - of the extraordinary man who was the 16th president of the United States.

Customer Reviews:

Gorgeous.......2001-03-16

Kudos to the publisher Knopf and all involved on the quality of this book. The reproduction of the 19th century photographs is first rate. The sepia toned image of the great man inside the front cover is exceptionally gorgeous - just breathtaking.

John Updike said Knopf publishes the most physically beautiful books in America, and this book leads me to believe he's right.

This is not a comprehesive, scholarly biography of Lincoln, nor does it pretend to be. But the text reads well, and the Lincoln photographs are beautiful, all-inclusive and presented in sound written context. The large size of the book works particularly nicely here. Well done!

Brilliant narrative and photography of Abraham Lincoln.......2000-12-14

Philip B. Kunhardt is to be highly commended for this outstanding photographic history of Abraham Lincoln. Not only are the photographs captivating, but the narrative of Lincolns life and the important events during his lifetime are interesting and enhance this book. Many interesting stories go along with the photographs of Lincoln from his 40's to his last days, however the most interesting part in my opinion is the month by month account of his presidency and the important events that occured. So much about the man has been written, but until this book was published not as many photos of President Lincoln were circulated or published. Just as important, are the events and stories which swirled around Lincoln. From his habits and humor to his history changing decisions are written in clarity and interesting form. His life and his loves are given with compassion, and his impossible losses of his sons and his mentally unballanced wife Mary Todd Lincoln is given unflinchingly. The last chapter of the book is about the assassination and the controversy surrounding Lincoln's remains, a very interesting and informative chapter to close with. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in U.S. History or 19th Century U.S. History.

Sumptuous Photography.......2000-08-05

The quality of this book is what first grabs you. The paper is thick, glossy and has weight, it reproduces 19th century photographs beautifully. The text is ancillary and never intrudes upon the primary focus here, which are the photographs of Lincoln, his family and the people who shaped his extraordinary life. The text illuminates and expands upon the photographs, giving dates and other pertinent information.

If you're looking for a full-scale biography of Lincoln, look elsewhere, this is primarily a visual treat and one of the better photographic compilations on any President.

draws on an incredible variety of sources..........2000-06-08

...that deal with President Lincoln; includes some excellent photography and many good quotations. What an incredible fellow he was.

You must have this book.......2000-04-18

This is a fantastic and beautiful book--oversized, loaded with more photos than you've ever seen in a Lincoln book, and worthy of coffee-table display. But it's not just a picture book. Each page is jam-packed with text, including an account of a dream Lincoln had about his own assassination. You'll definitely want the hardback version. Even if you've got a hefty collection of Lincoln lore, you must add this book to your shelves!

The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics

Average customer rating:

Puts the radical ideologist and the political realist in historical perspective
What changed Frederick Douglass' mind
The Politician and the Reformer
Neglected History
A spectacular love story

The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics
James Oakes
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393061949

Book Description

A major history of Civil War America through the lens of its two towering figures: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

"My husband considered you a dear friend," Mary Todd Lincoln wrote to Frederick Douglass in the weeks after Lincoln's assassination. The frontier lawyer and the former slave, the cautious politician and the fiery reformer, the president and the most famous black man in America—their lives traced different paths that finally met in the bloody landscape of secession, Civil War, and emancipation. Opponents at first, they gradually became allies, each influenced by and attracted to the other. Their three meetings in the White House signaled a profound shift in the direction of the Civil War, and in the fate of the United States. In this first book to draw the two together, James Oakes has written a masterful narrative history. He brings these two iconic figures to life and sheds new light on the central issues of slavery, race, and equality in Civil War America.

Customer Reviews:

Puts the radical ideologist and the political realist in historical perspective.......2007-05-30

One of the easiest things to do, especially on the web, is to take a highly regarded leader of the past, say, Abraham Lincoln, pull a few of his quotes or actions out of their historical context, and supposedly "prove" how horrible that leader actually was. In contrast, author James Oakes explains Lincoln to us postmoderns the way an historian should - by reminding us of Lincoln's circumstances and explaining Lincoln's overarching purposes. Oakes does this without resorting to making Lincoln a saint. According to Oakes' compellingly-supported evidence, Lincoln refused to compromise two essential commitments - to antislavery and to the American political system. Lincoln would not compromise his antislavery position to get more votes, nor would he compromise his oaths to uphold the Constitution to undermine slavery. This dual commitment of Lincoln's goes very far in helping us understand why Lincoln limited his goal to preventing the spread of slavery before he became president, why he didn't just go ahead and free all the slaves when he became president, why he moved slowly towards emancipation during the war, etc. Furthermore, the author's discussion of Lincoln's overwhelming desire to change the hearts and minds of Americans about slavery instead of merely forcing through political change regardless of wider support was especially useful. As the "Republican" in the title, Lincoln wanted a government that represented the will of the people; therefore, the will of the people needed to be converted before the government could make radical change. The fact that Lincoln helped accomplish this more widespread change is quite a testament to his legacy of leadership.

The "Radical" in the title is another great American, Frederick Douglass. Unlike Lincoln's, Douglass' reputation typically is not in dispute. Most of us love Douglass, and for good reason. Oakes doesn't tarnish Douglass' reputation, but he does help us to understand how Douglass' singular commitment to antislavery/antiracism, as compared to Lincoln's dual commitment explained above, often put Douglass at odds with the political process AND caused Douglass to speak out so vehemently against politicians like Lincoln. From Douglass' perspective, only immediate emancipation and egalitarianism would serve justice. Thus, by necessity, Douglass would oppose and criticize Lincoln - that is, until the two men met.

One of the reviewers below critiques Oakes for supposedly overstating the relationship between the two men. I believe this critique is misplaced because Oakes never claimed to be writing primarily about the interpersonal relationship between the two. Instead, he's writing about the interplay of the radical ideology of one, and the antislavery politics of the other. Also, I think that Oakes analyzes the relationship between Brown and Douglass comprehensively, not simplistically, as a reviewer below seems to believe.

As a person who teaches history at the college level, and as a person who enjoys reading history for fun, I would recommend this book. I intend to make it one of my required texts for my survey American history course, alongside Frederick Douglass' autobiography.

What changed Frederick Douglass' mind.......2007-04-24

Author James Oakes tells us this: in 1860 Frederick Douglass wrote of the upcoming presidential election "I cannot support Lincoln." But in 1888, Douglass said he had met no man "possessing a more godlike nature than did Abraham Lincoln." What had happened?

Oakes gives us a quick glance at his hypothesis within the subtitle of his book: the triumph of antislavery politics. As he explains, this doesn't apply to Lincoln. Lincoln was always an anti-slavery politician, although his thinking on how and how fast slavery should be destroyed changed over time. But with regards to the use of politics as the means to abolish slavery, the man whose thinking moved more was Frederick Douglass. And although the two men share the billing in Oakes' title, this is far more a book about Douglass than Lincoln. It is a book about the evolution of the reasoning of Frederick Douglass.

That evolution, as Oakes paints it, began for Douglass from the belief that the issue of slavery transcended politics and the compromises that came with it. Oakes traces how Douglass the reformer began to be drawn into the political arena, alienating the abolitionists who had first supported his career. But still he carried with him that insistence on absolutism. He brooked no delays, no strategic maneuverings. Lincoln and the Republicans were gradualists, and therefore were deemed irresolute and untrustworthy.

After the Civil War began, Douglass found even more reasons for outrage. Lincoln refused to immediately emancipate the slaves. The President even countermanded the Union generals who issued proclamations freeing the slaves in the territories they conquered. Lincoln had not yet issued a retaliation policy against confederates who captured and often executed southern blacks who had joined the Union army. Oakes gives us deft insights into Lincoln's thinking on all these issues. Douglass, who apparently was not himself an acolyte of consistency, bounced back and forth in his electoral attitudes. But he never let up in his pressure on Lincoln nor in his condemnation of the President's lack of strong steps against slave-holding interests.

Then, first in 1863, Lincoln meets with Douglass. About a year later, at Lincoln's request, they meet a second time and Lincoln asks Douglass to draw up a plan to get as many slaves freed under the Emancipation Proclamation as possible. Over that span Douglass' thinking with regards to Lincoln undergoes a dramatic shift. Afterwards, his criticism of Lincoln essentially stops.

Oakes describes these meetings, including a third just after Lincoln's second inaugural address, in as much detail as consistent with the small format of the book. He relies largely on Douglass' own recollections. Oakes also gives us dramatic retellings of other events in Douglass' career that illustrate the development of his thinking, but also the refinement of his skills as a political strategist.

We are still left wondering what exactly was the effect of those meetings with Lincoln. Was Douglass simply overwhelmed, as others were, by the force of Lincoln's understated humaneness and thereby convinced of the President's genuine concern for blacks? Or did Lincoln persuade Douglass that his political methods were the best possible under the evolving circumstances? Or did Lincoln flatter Douglass into acquiescence, especially in enlisting his help during that second meeting?

These possibilities are not mutually exclusive. Oakes in no way downplays the significance of these meetings. But I believe he wants us to see that what happened was entirely consistent with the evolution of Douglass' thinking with regards to politics. As a reformer, he saw it his job to always keep the pressure on. But where and how best to apply that pressure --- that changed in his meetings with Lincoln. And, near the end of Douglass' life, when he raised Lincoln to sainthood, he was still putting the pressure on. But he was using Lincoln's reputation to apply that pressure against the backsliding that the post-Reconstruction era had brought. Douglass had found a way to combine the duties of a reformer with a sophisticated instinct for politics.

"The Radical and the Republican" is not a dramatic retelling of events. It is certainly not a co-biography of its two principals. But it does have drama. That drama comes from taking Douglass' thinking seriously and mapping out its development and growing political sophistication. To do this, it uses comparisons with Lincoln's thinking and the interplay of the two men's principles and actions. But it's not by accident that Douglass comes first in the book's title and its cover. There are many books about Lincoln. This is a book about Frederick Douglass.

The Politician and the Reformer.......2007-03-22

Abraham Lincoln (1809 --1865) and Frederick Douglass (1818 -- 1895)are American heroes with each exemplifying a unique aspect of the American spirit. In his recent study, "The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics" (2007), Professor James Oakes traces the intersecting careers of both men, pointing out their initial differences and how their goals and visions ultimately converged. Oakes is Graduate School Humanities Professor and Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has written extensively on the history of slavery in the Old South.

Oakes reminds the reader of how much Lincoln and Douglass originally shared. Lincoln and Douglass were self-made, self-educated, and ambitious, and each rose to success from humble backgrounds. Douglass, of course, was an escaped slave. Douglass certainly and Lincoln most likely detested slavery from his youngest days. But Lincoln from his young manhood was a consummate politican devoted to compromise, consensus-building, moderation and indirection. Douglass was a reformer who spoke and wrote eloquently and with passion for the abolition of slavery and for equal rights for African Americans.

Much of Oakes's book explores the difficult subject of Lincoln's attitude towards civil rights -- as opposed simply to the ending of slavery -- and of how Lincoln's views developed during the Civil War. Oakes uses Douglass as a foil for Lincoln beginning with the Lincoln -- Stephen Douglas debates in Illinois in 1858. Steven Douglas tried hard to link Lincoln to Frederick Douglass and to abolitionism. He claimed that Lincoln favored equal rights for Negroes and raised the spectre of intermarriage between white women and black men. Portions of Lincoln's responses to Stephen Douglas were almost as distressing, as Lincoln carefully avoided supporting civil equality between the races and stressed instead the evil of slavery and the need to stop its expansion. It is not surprising that Douglass the abolitionist was ambivalent and mistrustful of Lincoln in the early years, doubting his committment to the cause of ending slavery.

Douglass continued to distrust President Lincoln. Douglass found the President too quick to temporize and too slow to act towards freeing the slaves. In widely publicized actions, Lincoln had rebuked two of his generals, Freemont and Hunter, who had tried to take aggressive action to free slaves. Lincoln had acted in order to keep on good terms with the border states whose support he deemed necessary to a successful war effort. But Douglass saw Lincoln's actions as weak and waffling.

Douglass's attitude gradually changed with the Emancipation Proclamation and with three meetings between the two men in 1863, 1864, and 1865. Douglass was won over by the President. Lincoln, for his part, seemed to view Douglass with genuine affection and friendship. Douglass gave masterful orations summarizing Lincoln's accomplishments following Lincoln's assassination, in 1876 at the unveiling of the Emancipation Monument in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C., and throughout the rest of his life. Lincoln had fought slavery with every means at his command, Douglass came to believe, given the difficult political and military situation with which he had to deal.

Douglass' career moved in an opposite direction from that of Lincoln. He began as a reformer and a follower of the abolitionist William Garrison and he initially shared Garrison's contempt for the American political process. Gradually, Douglass found his own voice, and he became convinced the the United States Constitution did not support slavery. He came to conclude that it was possible to work for change through the political process, and this belief eventually allowed a convergence between him and Lincoln. With the conclusion of the Civil War, Douglass became a party man and a stalwart Republican -- perhaps giving up more than he should have of the passion of his early years. While he ultimately saw the failure of Reconstruction, Douglass remained for the rest of his long life firmly within the American political process.

Oakes does an excellent job of comparing and contrasting the work of Lincoln and Douglass. His accounts of the complex events leading to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation are particuarly lucid. Oakes argues that Lincoln had surreptitiously delivered the death blow to slavery by the end of 1861. As to Douglass, I learned a great deal from Oakes's discussion of his three autobiographies, written in 1845, 1855, and 1881 (editied, 1891) and of how these works document the change of Douglass from reformer to an instance of the American success story. Oakes also describes well and detail a chilling meeting between Douglass and other African American leaders and President Andrew Johnson in which Douglass unsuccessfully tried to persuade Johnson to extend the right to vote to African Americans.

Oakes has written a readable, informed account of the achievements of two great American leaders. The attitudes which they represent -- the politican and the reformer -- and the issues with which they struggled remain with Americans today.

Robin Friedman

Neglected History.......2007-03-08

I enjoyed this book because it showed the civil rights struggle with all its complexities in a very clear and understandable way. The interaction of Douglas and Lincoln was especially interesting because it provided a very human picture of good men trying to deal with the thinking and forces operating during that time.

A spectacular love story.......2007-03-01

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass long, coy courtship ends in the conjugal bliss of pragmatism. Explosive!

And the cover of the book is AWESOME. The design is great.

Average customer rating:

Historical Fiction at Its Finest
bravo!
4 score and 5 stars ago...
A Novel of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln

Lincoln: A Novel
Gore Vidal
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Hollywood

ASIN: 0394528956
Release Date: 1984-05-12

Amazon.com

Lincoln is a masterwork of historical fiction, in which Gore Vidal combines a comprehensive knowledge of Civil War America with 20th-century literary technique, probing the minds and motives of the men surrounding Abraham Lincoln, including personal secretary John Hay and scheming cabinet members William Seward and Salmon P. Chase, as well as his wife, Mary Todd. It is a book monumental in scope that never loses sight of the intimate and personal in its depiction of the power struggles that accompanied Lincoln's efforts to preserve the Union at all costs--efforts in which the eradication of slavery was far from the president's main objective. As usual, there's plenty of room for Vidal's wickedly humorous deflation of American icons, including a comic interlude in a Washington bordello in which Lincoln's former law partner informs Hay that Lincoln had contracted syphilis as a young man and had, just before marrying Mary Todd, suffered what can only be described as a nervous breakdown. (Protestors should note that Vidal is only passing along what that former partner had written in his own biography of Lincoln.) Don't be intimidated by the size of Lincoln; if you like historical fiction, you should read this book at the first opportunity. --Ron Hogan

Book Description

"The portrait is reasoned, judicious, straightforward and utterly convincing."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
In this profoundly moving work of epic proportion and intense human sympathy, Abraham Lincoln is observed by his loved ones, his rivals, and his future assassins. In this brilliantly realized, vividly imagined work of fiction, Gore Vidal gives us a portrait of America's great president that is at once intimate and public, stark and complex, and that will become for future generations the living Lincoln, the definitive Lincoln.
"Richly entertaining....For the general reader the elegant explication of the issues of the day gives hearty satisfaction: history lessons with the blood still hot."
THE WASHINGTON POST

Customer Reviews:

Historical Fiction at Its Finest .......2007-05-28

Gore Vidal's 'Lincoln' immerses the reader in Civil War Washington with rich detail. Vidal introduces few fictional characters and hews close to the known historical record in brilliantly recreating actions and conversations. Lincoln emerges as a master political strategist who invites his chief adversaries into his Administration and then lulls them into thinking they and not he are the real powers. By the time Lincoln acheives near complete power, Chase and Seward are unsure just how it happened.

By the end, this reader more pitied than despised Mary Todd Lincoln, but felt both emotions in full towards Lincoln's vicious and insane wife. Salmon Chase comes in for a richly deserved measure of disrepute with his incessant political ambitions. Lesser known characters such William Sprague and 'Chevalier' Henry Wikoff add color and dishonor. The examination of Lincoln's second secretary, John Hay, is fascinating and enlightening.

Vidal inserts several rebels into the story, including a glory-hound named David Herold. These characters are real, but little is known about them and it shows. A reduced role for these characters would have mercifully shortened the extraordinary length of the book.

Vidal controversially has Lincoln continuing to advocate the colonization of freed slaves right up until the day of his assassination. My understanding of the generally accepted view is that Lincoln had long since abadnoned colonization as a viable policy.

Vidal's 'Lincoln' is historical fiction at its finest - entertaining and elucidating. Highly recommended.

bravo!.......2007-01-25

Mr. Vidal has written an elegant story about one of the most troubling times in our nations history. As seen through the eyes of our greatest president, his cabinet and the people around him this book pulls you in and grabs you by the coattails. What is actual fact and what comes from Mr Vidals imagination? Every action, every word seems authentic and keeping in line with what we expect from the characters. A beautiful book, you feel as if you are right there seeing for yourself firsthand, the birth of a nation from grandiose ideas about democracy and union to a reality.

4 score and 5 stars ago..........2007-01-25

It is a book about Lincoln; the book was delivered on time and it was clean and just what we needed!

A Novel of Abraham Lincoln.......2007-01-09

In his 1984 historical novel "Lincoln", Gore Vidal has written with great insight about our sixteenth president, his cabinet, his family, his enemies, and the Civil War Era. Lengthy though the book is, the writing is crisp and eloquent. It held my attention throughout. The book is part of a series of novels by Vidal exploring the history of the United States.

In writing historical novels, it is difficult to tell where fact ends and fiction begins. This is particularly the case in dealing with a complex figure such as Lincoln whose life and political legacy remain controversial and subject to many interpretations. Controversial matters that Vidal addresses in his novel include Lincoln's attitude towards African-Americans and the Reconstruction policy that Lincoln might have pursued if he had lived. Vidal's book shows careful study of Lincoln's life and the Civil War era. He uses the resources uniquely available to the novelist to good advantage by probing the thought processes and feelings of his characters where historical evidence is lacking. I found the portrait of Lincoln compelling, but it is important to remember that Vidal is writing a novel.

Vidal's book begins as the President-elect arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. a few days before his inaugaration to thwart a feared assassination attempt in Baltimore. In the course of the novel, passages of recollection by various characters, reliable and unreliable, cast some light on Lincoln's earlier life. The book moves carefully and slowly, with a great deal of attention given, and properly so, to the earlier period of Lincoln's presidency. Much attention is given to Washington, D.C. at the outset of Lincoln's administration, to attempts to avert the war, to Lincoln's formation of his cabinet, and to preparing the nation for what proved to be a long bloody struggle. The pace of the book picks up as it proceeds through Lincoln's first term and reelection, the end of the Civil War, and the assassination.

The picture of Abraham Lincoln that emerges from Vidal is of a man of great intellect, ambition and will, determined to save the Union at all costs. Vidal portrays Lincoln's overriding dedication to the Union. In order to preserve the Union, Lincoln uses extraordinary and even ruthless political skills. Thus, Vidal's novel considers extensively Lincoln's relationship with his cabinet. Vidal shows Lincoln choosing a cabinet from among his political rivals for the presidency, as well as from loyalist democrats, in order to be all-inclusive in the war effort. Lincoln deals with uncanny skill with potential rivals for the presidency, especially Secretary of State Seward and Secretary of the Treasury Chase. (A recent historical study, "Team of Rivals" by Doris Goodwin also treats Lincoln's relationship to his cabinet at length.) The book also shows Lincoln dealing with similar finesse and force with the Radical Republicans in Congress, with Chief Justice Taney on the Supreme Court, and with his military leaders.

Vidal tells his story through a variety of perspectives. Most of the time, the viewpoint is that of John Hay, one of Lincoln's two secretaries, who had detailed and close access to Lincoln throughout the presidency. Hay and Lincoln's other secretary, Nicholay, together wrote one of the earliest biographies of Lincoln. Vidal also gives the reader a large portrait of the many southern conspirators against Lincoln. In particular Vidal develops the character of a young man named David Herrold, with uncertain purpose in life, who ultimately becomes part of the Booth conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase and his ambitious daughter Kate also receive a large share of attention in Vidal's novel.

For all the attention lavished on him, Lincoln as a man remains an enigma. Lincoln largely kept his own counsel and was not demonstrative in showing his feelings. Thus fleshing-out Lincoln's character offers the novelist a great deal of latitude, and Vidal makes the most of it. His novel focuses on Lincoln's difficult relationship with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as she spends lavishly, engages herself in political intrigue, and descends to near-madness. The Lincolns endured the death of their young son Willie during the presidency. Vidal properly gives substantial attention to Lincoln's religious views, which became increasing theistic with the prolongation of the Civil War, but never Christian.

Although Gore clearly admires Lincoln and his fortitude in saving the Union, he emphasizes that Lincoln's success came at a high price over and above the loss of blood and treasure in a long bitter war. With his suspension of habeas corpus and supression of dissent, Lincoln expanded forever the power of the Presidency. The war effort changed the character of the United States from an agrarian republic to a centralized, industrial nation. At the end of the book, Vidal puts his own misgivings into the words of John Hay, stationed in France after the assassination.. Hay remarks that "Lincoln, in some mysterious fashion, had willed his own murder as a form of atonement for the great and terrible thing that he had done by giving so bloody and absolute a rebirth to his nation." (p. 657)

"Lincoln" is a thoughtful and moving book for those readers wanting to think about the ideals and political processes of the United States and about Lincoln's role in their continuing development.

Robin Friedman

Lincoln.......2006-11-09

ISBN 034531221x A very well-written book, and far more readable than the size of it might make you think, I found one problem running throughout the book - the lack of dates. Although Vidal periodically mentions a specific date, the lack of them makes for a somewhat odd effect: the war, and Lincoln's political career, seem to last a very short time.

That aside, a wonderfully different look at a Presidency that changed the U.S. forever. Despite the fact that Lincoln never intended to free the slaves, and having done so, didn't want them living in the same country as the white population, his role as hero has always detracted from his human-ness. This book gives that back to him, and to the reader.

Mary's rather loose grip on sanity is almost played for laughs at times, which is a little sad. Other than that, it's hard to find one true bad guy in the book - a reflection of real life that was nice to find in a book that, in the end, is a work of fiction. Unless you're willing to do a great deal of research to verify everything in it, I wouldn't read this as anything OTHER than a historical fiction.

Abraham Lincoln : Speeches and Writings 1832-1858 (Library of America)

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Great volume culminates in the Lincoln-Douglas debates
#3 in my list of Libary of America books...(of 4)

Abraham Lincoln : Speeches and Writings 1832-1858 (Library of America)
Abraham Lincoln , and Don E. Fehrenbacher
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Lincoln: Speeches and Writings: Volume 2: 1859-1865 (Library of America)
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ASIN: 0940450437

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Great volume culminates in the Lincoln-Douglas debates.......2005-05-11

Abraham Lincoln was a great President. Where he falls on your list is a private judgment, but most put him at or near the top. It is true that there is a more vocal element of detractors nowadays, but those voices tend to also advocate versions of America that most of us would not recognize nor care to legitimate. This volume begins with Lincoln as a young man of twenty-three beginning political career.

The letters are quite interesting and cover a range of topics. It is interesting to note his private correspondence on various topics such as the Mexican War and compare those notes to his public speeches. While he is clearly a politician and aware of the need to garner votes, he uses his powerful intellect to find the line that will hold to his principles and still be convincing to the electorate.

This volume culminates with the seven famed Lincoln - Douglas debates when those two candidates contended for a seat in the Senate representing Illinois. Remember, this was before Senators were directly elected. These were debates to win popular support, but also to show political viability so when the public selected the legislature, the legislature would choose the preferred candidate for the Senate. These debates received national attention, which pleased both candidates. The format was this: first speaker for one hour, response by the second speaker for an hour and a half, the first speaker responds for a half hour. They alternated who spoke first with each debate. They went after each other directly with challenges, personal attacks, interruptions, and appeals to the crowd. Can you imagine any of our candidates even attempting such a risky format nowadays?

As I read the debates, Douglas seems to be a panderer and clearly supporting slavery in a way that seems odd for someone seeking office in Illinois. However, he was really positioning himself for the Presidency. Stephen Douglas did become Senator while Lincoln did not. However, two years later, Douglas did not get nominated as a candidate for President and Lincoln won the Presidency.

This great volume has a chronology of Lincoln's life and notes on the texts and an index.

#3 in my list of Libary of America books...(of 4).......1999-12-14

I bought both volumns of this over the summer. I first bought Libary of America's publication of Jefferson which is a must have. Then Franklin. Those two are extremely good and I highly recommend them to anyone interested in raw historical material.

Now as for the volumes on Lincoln, don't get me wrong; they are also extremely good. As with all of these books, it is a rewarding reading experience to peruse collections of un-edited letters and speeches in their chronological order.

These volumes have every conceivable bit of correspondence imaginable. Lincoln apparently preferred the short letter, as there are several single paragraph letters to generals on the field and the like. He also wrote with simplicity and suprising bluntness. Volume 1 has a number of early speeches and famous debates which give you a sense of the lawyer turned politician. These of course are very lengthy. But also in volumes 1 and 2 there are numerous short letters which include urgent notes to General McClellan and others that would have made me quit the post had I been the receiver! In contrast there are letters revealing Lincolns more sensitive personal side.

I'm rating Lincoln's volumes just behind those of Jefferson and Franklin because there are no references detailing the circumstances for each writing. I felt a little lost not knowing what the impetus was behind the letters and correspondence. This is a departure from the Jefferson and Franklin books, which provide very detailed notes.

Finally I should say that Library of America's books are of very high quality for more than their authorship and reading content. All are bound nicely and printed on bible paper-like acid free paper. They are of exceptional quality just as books. I would say they are the best quality available.

Additionally, Library of America is a non-profit organization with the aim of distributing the work of America's essential writers without commercial gain.

Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War
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The E-Mail of the Civil War

A new means of communication

Moving Washington Electronically to the Battlefield

Jarring Juxtapositions...

Approximately right, precisely wrong

Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War
Tom Wheeler
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 006112978X
Release Date: 2006-10-31

Book Description

The Civil War was the first "modern war." Because of the rapid changes in American society, Abraham Lincoln became president of a divided United States during a period of technological and social revolution. Among the many modern marvels that gave the North an advantage was the telegraph, which Lincoln used to stay connected to the forces in the field in almost real time.

No leader in history had ever possessed such a powerful tool to gain control over a fractious situation. An eager student of technology, Lincoln (the only president to hold a patent) had to learn to use the power of electronic messages. Without precedent to guide him, Lincoln began by reading the telegraph traffic among his generals. Then he used the telegraph to supplement his preferred form of communication—meetings and letters. He did not replace those face-to-face interactions. Through this experience, Lincoln crafted the best way to guide, reprimand, praise, reward, and encourage his commanders in the field.

Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails tells a big story within a small compass. By paying close attention to Lincoln's "lightning messages," we see a great leader adapt to a new medium. No reader of this work of history will be able to miss the contemporary parallels. Watching Lincoln carefully word his messages—and follow up on those words with the right actions—offers a striking example for those who spend their days tapping out notes on computers and BlackBerrys.

An elegant work of history, Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails is an instructive example of timeless leadership lessons.

Customer Reviews:

The E-Mail of the Civil War.......2007-05-21

My interest crept up on me, as I read this book. The focus upon the t-mails alone, initially gave me the sense that the author's choice of direction could become too narrow. But, in Lincoln's own words, as he dealt with his general problem, it becomes clear what a great insight into Lincoln's thinking this approach reveals. Lincoln's management skills, his understanding of human nature, and his resolve to find men who were as focused as he, in destroying Lee's army...are all displayed directly and clearly through his t-mails...including the ones never sent.

His dissatisfaction with his generals leads him to question, to criticize, and finally, even to direct. Today he would have been accused of micro-management....something anathema to the current occupant of the White House. It's through his t-mails that he comes to deeply know and understand their many limitations....and through those same t-mails that he learns the type of men required to win the Civil War. Lincoln then acts decisively in removing the incompetents.....and then, and only then, finally gets the generals he deserves in Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. His latter t-mails demonstrate his great respect, gratitude, and relief as he allows these generals a wider birth to act.

It's a fine book....to the point, insightful, and leading to a conclusion. Lincoln simply camped out every day at the telegraph office, and Tom Wheeler takes us into his mind....through his communications. T-mail was the e-mail of the Civil War.

A new means of communication.......2007-04-04

This is an easy to read, informative book. Lincoln was the first president to use telegraphy duing wartime to confer with and/or direct his armies. In this age of modern communication we tend to forget how difficult it use to be. The telegraph was invented at the right time and Lincoln was in the right place and of the right frame of mind, to take a giant step forward. This is an interesting history of how Lincoln learned to communicate during a war and how he inserted himself into the conflict.

Moving Washington Electronically to the Battlefield.......2007-03-22

The author, Tom Wheeler, tells the fascinating story of how Abraham Lincoln employed the telegraph to help win the Civil War, narrating Lincoln's use of the telegraph from Secession to Lee's surrender. The telegraph was less than twenty years old when the Civil War began; and while railroads, newspapers, and financial markets used the telegraph, the Federal Government made limited use of the telegraph's lightning speed to transmit messages to distant locations. Lincoln made minimal use of the telegraph during his first year. However, in 1862 Lincoln began his growth as an electronic leader; in January 1862, for the first time, he "used the telegraph to communicate a direct order." Lincoln found his electronic voice in 1862.

Most important, in 1862 the hub of the telegraph network was moved from Army headquarters to the civilian-run War Department next to the White House where Lincoln was in frequent contact with its unfiltered messages. By daily reading all messages received regardless of to whom they were addressed, Lincoln gained detailed information of events on the battlefields. By injecting himself by telegraph into those activities, "whether invited or not, Lincoln maintained his virtual presence in the headquarters of his generals." From this information he developed his leadership abilities to direct, chastise, praise and motivate his field commanders. The author notes "From May 24" (1862) "forward, through the remainder of his presidency, the telegraph was an integral part of Abraham Lincoln's leadership."

The text gives an interesting chronicle of Lincoln's developing use of the telegraph as the Civil War progressed and notes "Here is the amazing fact: Abraham Lincoln applied telegraph's technology to create advantages for the Northern war effort entirely on his own." There was no precedent for him to follow. "The telegraph began to knit together a geographically disparate nation." With the press using the telegraph, for the first time the government let alone a government at war, was confronted by a well-informed constituency. Censorship policies had to be developed while at the same time informing the public. Since military telegrams could be intercepted or false messages sent, complex codes were used for encrypting important transmissions while other messages moved without code or with a simple code. Lincoln's dealing with the wartime press was a political priority which he effectively used. The largest single topic of the telegrams President Lincoln's sent, dealt with the appeal of military court martial death sentences.

When General Grant became general-in-chief, he and Lincoln soon developed workable telegraphic communications. Their use of the telegraph during a military threat to Washington, after some misreading, was effective. By telegram Grant stated he could provide strategic command while an onsite field commander would provide tactical direction.

The telegraph was exploited by Lincoln for his re-election in 1864. He also exploited the telegraph to talk politics with his generals. Ultimately the telegraph's lightning speed allowed for rapid dialog between Grant and the president thus greatly assisting the surrender of Lee's army on April 4, 1865.

In the last chapter the author states "The story of Lincoln's experience with the telegraph is yet another example of his capacity for growth, including his ability to change as circumstances (including technology) warranted. . . . We are the beneficiaries of Lincoln's electronic revolution."

The Union commanders were not "out there" alone but were well observed and occasionally directed by the president. The reader will find this work both informative and interesting

Jarring Juxtapositions..........2007-03-16

This book gives some good insight into Lincoln's learning to lead from afar as he realized what the telegraph could do. He particularly used it to prod over-cautious generals, and backed off its use some when he got competent commanders in place.

If the book stopped there, it would have been fine and interesting. However, Wheeler has a need to surround Lincoln with present-day business book pablum language... "