Lincoln at Gettysburg

The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling demonstration than in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was asked to memorialize the gruesome battle. Instead, he gave the whole nation "a new birth of freedom" in the space of a mere 272 words. His entire life and previous training, and his deep political experience went into this, his revolutionary masterpiece.

By examining both the address and Lincoln in their historical moment and cultural frame, Wills breathes new life into words we thought we knew, and reveals much about a president so mythologized but often misunderstood. Wills shows how Lincoln came to change the world and to effect an intellectual revolution, how his words had to and did complete the work of the guns, and how Lincoln wove a spell that has not yet been broken.

Autorentext

Garry Wills

Inhalt

Contents

Key to Brief Citations

Prologue

1. Oratory of the Greek Revival

2. Gettysburg and the Culture of Death

3. The Transcendental Declaration

4. Revolution in Thought

5. Revolution in Style

Epilogue

**Appendices

I. What Lincoln Said: The Text

II. Where He Said It: The Site

III. Four Funeral Orations

A. By Everett

B. By Pericles

C. By Gorgias

D. The Gettysburg Address

1. Spoken Text(?)

2. Final Text

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index to the Gettysburg Address

Index to Other Major Lincoln Texts

Name Index

Photo Credits