The Lincoln Bookshelf
Abraham Lincoln: Great American Historians on Our Sixteenth President, edited by Brian Lamb and Susan Swain (PublicAffairs Press), brings together for the first time in print form the transcripts of countless C-SPAN interviews on Lincoln over the course of 20 years. A list of historians is impossible—every prominent scholar who has written on Lincoln this generation is included.
Big Enough to be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race by George M. Fredrickson (Harvard University Press). The final book by the late Stanford historian is a collection of his 2006 Du Bois lectures: “Great Egalitarian or Hard-Core Racist?” “Free Soil, Free Labor, and Free White Men,” and “Becoming an Emancipator: The War Years.” Historian Eric Foner hailed it as “marked by meticulous scholarship.”
Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions about Abraham Lincoln by Gerald J. Prokopowicz (Pantheon) is at once accessible for beginners and essential for serious students. David Donald called this mini-encyclopedia of everything you-wanted-to-know a “wonderful book, as witty as it is wise,” and Harold Holzer praised it as “an essential reference and a page-turning good read.”
Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass & Abraham Lincoln by John Stauffer (Twelve Books), is the latest volume to compare the lives of the 16th President and his only African-American advisor. Stauffer, chair of the history of American civilization and professor of English at Harvard, wrote The Black Hearts of Men, which won a 2002 Frederick Douglass Prize.
The Great Comeback: How Abraham Lincoln Beat the Odds to Win the 1860 Republican Nomination, by Gary Ecelbarger (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s) chronicles what Daniel Stowell, editor of the Lincoln Papers, calls the “startling transformation of political fortune” that made Lincoln President. “Anyone who has thought there was nothing more to be said about Lincoln,” noted Civil War scholar Steven Woodworth, “will have to think again.”
Lincoln and His Admirals by Craig L. Symonds (Oxford University Press), the leading authority on the naval history of the CivilWar, is the first book to illuminate the neglected story of Lincoln as commander-in-chief of the Navy. The author, former professor of history at the U. S. Naval Academy and chief historian of the U.S.S. Monitor Center, examines Lincoln’s role as strategist, administrator, and high-tech innovator.
Lincoln and His World: Prairie Politician, 1834-1842 by Richard LawrenceMiller (Stackpole Books) is the second book in the author’s planned multivolume Lincoln biography series. Brian Dirck called it “a thoroughly researched, lively portrait of Abraham Lincoln’s early years as an up-and-coming Illinois politician.”
Lincoln and the Decision for War by Russell McClintock (UNC Press) takes Lincoln, as President elect and President, through a dramatic, chronological, month by month account of the pressures to either forestall or prevent civil war. Frank J. Williams called the book “an excellent reappraisal—sincere, intelligent, and absorbing,” and historianWilliam C. Harris praised it as “well-written and brilliantly analyzed.”
Lincoln & the Court by Brian McGinty (Harvard University Press), explores Lincoln’s evolving relationship with the U. S. Supreme Court, as attorney, opponent of the Dred Scott decision, and president of a divided country. Frank J.Williams called this “complete account…beautifully written” by an author “who makes complicated legal issues accessible” to show that “Lincoln was the lawyer in the White House.”
Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point by Lewis E. Lehrman (Stackpole Books), is the first account of the 1854 Illinois oration that brought Lincoln roaring back into the political arena as an antislavery foe of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. James O. Horton asserted: “Lewis Lehrman’s meticulous analysis of one of Lincoln’s little known speeches…contributes to our understanding of one of America’s greatest leaders.”
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The Lincoln Studies Center Edition (University of Illinois Press), takes into account the varying, party-influenced transcripts of the famous “joint meetings” to yield a definitive consensus record—adding colorful details about each encounter and analysis of their political and historical meeting. Scholar David Zarefsky said: “This edition will serve as the standard reference work on the debates.”
Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated with Our Greatest President by Edward Steers Jr. (University Press of Kentucky, 2007) provides an often amusing, but deadly serious, hoax-puncturing analysis of some of the most stubborn misconceptions about Lincoln’s life and death. Allen C. Guelzo called it a “delightful romp through the myths…funny and instructive all at the same moment.”
Lincoln Lessons: Reflections on America's Greatest Leader, Frank J. Williams and William D. Pederson, eds. Personal essays by 17 of the nation’s leading scholars explaining how they became interested in Abraham Lincoln and the lessons they have derived from him (Jean Baker, Mario Cuomo, Joan Flinspach, Sara Gabbard, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Harold Holzer, Harry Jaffa, John Marszalek, James McPherson, Edna Medford, Sandra Day O’Connor, Mackubin Owens, William Pederson, Edward Steers, Craig Symonds, Tom Turner, and Frank Williams).
Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter, 1860-1861 by Harold Holzer (Simon & Schuster), takes Lincoln from Election through Inauguration in re-evaluating his surprisingly active role in saving the Union before swearing his oath. Doris Kearns Goodwin called it “a stunningly original work that casts completely new light on the most turbulent and critical presidential transition in American history.”
The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage by Daniel Mark Epstein (Ballantine Books) is a long, complex, and lyrical look at the married lives of Abraham and Mary Lincoln by the author of Lincoln and Whitman. Doris Kearns Goodwin called it “a splendid addition to the Lincoln literature” written with “a novelist’s feel for detail and drama,” Ken Burns hailed it as “impressive,” and Frank J. Williams lauded it as “brilliantly conceived.”
Lincoln’s America: 1809-1865, edited by Joseph R. Fornieri and Sara Vaughn Gabbard (Southern Illinois University Press), is the latest—and last—in the series of books issued by the late and lamented Lincoln Museum. Essays by Herman Belz, Allen C. Guelzo, Harold Holzer, Myron Marty, Mark Noll, James Oakes, Richard Striner, Frank J.Williams, and Kenneth Winkle.
Lincoln’s Legacy: Ethics and Politics, edited by Philip Shaw Paludan (University of Illinois Press) offers, historian Ronald C.White says, “outstanding” essays that “offer fresh new perspectives” on the Lincoln theme. Contributors include William Lee Miller, Mark W. Summers, Mark E. Neely Jr., and Paludan, who died as this book was being completed.
The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln’s Thirty-Year Struggle with Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America by Roy Morris Jr. (Smithsonian Books) is the latest book by the editor of Military Heritage Magazine. Historian Jeffrey D.Wert called it a “gripping narrative,” noting it “captures their burning ambition, political skills, and deeply held beliefs” amidst the background of their country’s unfolding tragedy.”
Looking for Lincoln: The Making of An American Icon by Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt, and Peter W. Kunhardt Jr. (Knopf) is the companion book to the forthcoming (February) PBS series by the Kunhardts, but more, a lavishly illustrated exploration of the myths, memories, and questions surrounding our most famous—and enigmatic—president.
Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World, edited by Eric Foner (W. W. Norton), offers original essays by veteran and new Lincoln scholars alike, all inspired by the approaching bicentennial. Included are JamesM.McPherson, SeanWilentz, James Oakes, Manisha Sinha, Christopher L. Brown, Richard Carwardine, Catherine Clinton, Andrew Delbanco, David Blight, Harold Holzer, and Foner himself.
The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases, edited by Daniel W. Stowell, et. al. (4 volumes, University of Virginia Press). The longawaited highlights compendium of the milestone Lincoln Legals Project, this boxed set of four big volumes essentially completes the unfinished work of the 1953 Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, which omitted all legal documents.
The Political Lincoln: An Encyclopedia edited by Paul Finkelman and Martin J. Hershock (CQ Press).Two distinguished university professors drawon the latest in Lincoln scholarship from a distinguished roster of contributors to present what its publisher heralds as “a complete and up-to-date picture of the life and politics ofAmerica’s CivilWar President.”
President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman by William Lee Miller (Alfred A. Knopf), is the second volume in the “ethical biography” series (the first was Lincoln’s Virtues) by the Scholar in Ethics and Institutions at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Miller explores Lincoln’s unique combination of resolve and judgment as he applied it to his twin goals of saving the Union and destroying slavery.
Rebel Giants: Abraham Lincoln & Charles Darwin by David R. Contosta (Prometheus Books), represents another title in the strong new vogue for joint biography. Examining the two historical giants born on the very same day—February 12, 1809—the author contends that each, who had more in common than previously understood, made a major impact on history in ways neither could have predicted as young men.
Summers with Lincoln: Looking for theMan in the Monuments by James A. Percoco (Fordham University Press), recounts the odyssey of a committed educator to connect his 21st century students with America’s 19th century heritage. Harold Holzer called it “a unique and inspiring story,” and David McCullough hailed its author as “one of the finest examples the nation has of a history teacher.”
“There I Grew Up:” Remembering Abraham Lincoln’s Indiana Youth by William E. Bartelt (Indiana Historical Society Press) is the first volume in generations to explore in detail Lincoln’s varied and challenging early life in his boyhood home state. The author is a veteran educator who serves now as vice chair of the Indiana Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
Tried byWar: Abraham Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief by James M. McPherson (Penguin Press). America’s foremost Civil War historian turns his attention to the Union commander in chief as maker of policy and military strategy. Publishers’Weekly observed: “Lincoln may have been an amateur of war, but McPherson successfully establishes him as America’s greatest war leader.”
