Lincoln's Sword

Zusatztext This book is so good that it will shape Lincoln scholarship for generations. Never has the craft of Lincoln's writing been more brilliantly revealed. Never has the mind of Lincoln been more deeply penetrated. Doris Kearns Goodwin! author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Fascinating. . . an engaging story of how Lincoln used his great intellect and love of the English language to pull the country through its darkest hour. Most books about Lincoln tell the reader why he was a great man; Lincoln's Sword tells how he made himself a great man. Pittsburg Tribune-Review The finest book yet produced about Lincoln's uncanny creative process. . . makes a major contribution to scholarship. The New York Sun What a delight! what a wonder. . . . For a few hours your faith will be restored in democracy and politics. San Francisco Chronicle Informationen zum Autor Douglas L. Wilson , co-director, with Rodney O. Davis, of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College, is the author Lincoln before Washington: New Perspectives on the Illinois Years (University of Illinois Press, 1997); Herndon's Informants: Letters and Interviews about Abraham Lincoln (edited with Rodney O. Davis, University of Illinois Press, 1998); and Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), which was awarded the Lincoln Prize for 1999, and Herndon's Lincoln (edited with Rodney O. Davis, University of Illinois Press, 2006). The Lincoln Studies Center is currently retained by the Library of Congress to transcribe and annotate documents in its Lincoln Papers for the World Wide Web. He lives in Galesburg, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln's hometown. Klappentext This brilliant and unprecedented examination by an acclaimed Lincoln scholar reveals how Lincoln used the power of words to build his political career and to help keep the country united during the Civil War. Chapter One Springfield Farewell On the day before his fifty-second birthday, February 11, 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln boarded a train in Springfield, Illinois, and set off for Washington. Before leaving his hometown, he had said a series of good-byes. Ten days earlier he had paid an emotional visit to his aged stepmother and visited the grave of his father. He had hosted a public reception, personally greeting the hundreds of well-wishers who streamed into and out of his house at Eighth and Jackson. The day before, he had made a final, nostalgic visit to his law office and his law partner of sixteen years, William H. Herndon. Inside the Great Western Railway station, just prior to his train's departure, he gravely shook hands with the loyal contingent of close friends who had braved an early morning hour and drizzling rain to see him off. Ordinarily a man of remarkable self-control, Lincoln was unable to disguise his feelings. As he shook hands with his friends, according to a reporter on the scene, his face was pale and quivered with emotion so deep as to render him almost unable to utter a single word. Lincoln's rare display of emotion must have been evident to the larger crowd of well-wishers waiting outside the station. They had gathered in the street, between the station and the stub, or sidetrack, into which the special train was backed for boarding, and Lincoln and his party had to pass through them to reach the train. As Mr. Lincoln mounted the platform of the car, observed another reporter, many in the crowd seemed deeply affected, and he himself scarcely able to check the emotions of the hour. The night before, he had told the reporters traveling with him that he would make no remarks at the station, but once inside the car, he changed his mind. He returned to the platform at the rear of the car and removed his hat. The crowd grew silent, and the men in the crowd ...

Auteur

Douglas L. Wilson, co-director, with Rodney O. Davis, of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College, is the author Lincoln before Washington: New Perspectives on the Illinois Years (University of Illinois Press, 1997); Herndon's Informants: Letters and Interviews about Abraham Lincoln (edited with Rodney O. Davis, University of Illinois Press, 1998); and Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), which was awarded the Lincoln Prize for 1999, and Herndon's Lincoln (edited with Rodney O. Davis, University of Illinois Press, 2006). The Lincoln Studies Center is currently retained by the Library of Congress to transcribe and annotate documents in its Lincoln Papers for the World Wide Web. He lives in Galesburg, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln's hometown.

Texte du rabat

This brilliant and unprecedented examination by an acclaimed Lincoln scholar reveals how Lincoln used the power of words to build his political career and to help keep the country united during the Civil War.

Résumé
Widely considered in his own time as a genial but provincial lightweight who was out of place in the presidency, Abraham Lincoln astonished his allies and confounded his adversaries by producing a series of speeches and public letters so provocative that they helped revolutionize public opinion on such critical issues as civil liberties, the use of black soldiers, and the emancipation of slaves. This is a brilliant and unprecedented examination of how Lincoln used the power of words to not only build his political career but to keep the country united during the Civil War.

Échantillon de lecture
Chapter One Springfield Farewell On the day before his fifty-second birthday, February 11, 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln boarded a train in Springfield, Illinois, and set off for Washington. Before leaving his hometown, he had said a series of good-byes. Ten days earlier he had paid an emotional visit to his aged stepmother and visited the grave of his father. He had hosted a public reception, personally greeting the hundreds of well-wishers who streamed into and out of his house at Eighth and Jackson. The day before, he had made a final, nostalgic visit to his law office and his law partner of sixteen years, William H. Herndon. Inside the Great Western Railway station, just prior to his train’s departure, he gravely shook hands with the loyal contingent of close friends who had braved an early morning hour and drizzling rain to see him off. Ordinarily a man of remarkable self-control, Lincoln was unable to disguise his feelings. As he shook hands with his friends, according to a reporter on the scene, “his face was pale and quivered with emotion so deep as to render him almost unable to utter a single word.” Lincoln’s rare display of emotion must have been evident to the larger crowd of well-wishers waiting outside the station. They had gathered in the street, between the station and the “stub,” or sidetrack, into which the special train was backed for boarding, and Lincoln and his party had to pass through them to reach the train. “As Mr. Lincoln mounted the platform of the car,” observed another reporter, many in the crowd seemed “deeply affected, and he himself scarcely able to check the emotions of the hour.” The night before, he had told the reporters traveling with him that he would make no remarks at the station, but once inside the car, he changed his mind. He returned to the platform at the rear of the car and removed his hat. The crowd grew silent, and the men in the crowd responded by removing theirs. An old friend who was present, James C. Conkling, wrote the next day to his son: “It was quite affecting. Many eyes were filled to overflowing as Mr. Lincoln uttered those few and simple words which you will see in the papers. His own breast heaved with emotion and he could scarcely command his feelings sufficiently to commence.” Different versions of Lincoln’s “few and simple words” were reported in newspapers, but in 1887, …