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Lincoln's Body: A Cultural History
"[A]n astonishingly interesting interpretation…Fox is wonderfully shrewd and often dazzling." —Jill Lepore, New York Times Book Review
Abraham Lincoln remains America’s most beloved leader. The fact that he was lampooned in his day as "ugly and grotesque" only made Lincoln more endearing to millions. In Lincoln’s Body, acclaimed cultural historian Richard Wightman Fox explores how deeply, and how differently, Americans—black and white, male and female, Northern and Southern—have valued our sixteenth president, from his own lifetime to the Hollywood biopics about him. Lincoln continues to survive in a body of memory that speaks volumes about our nation.
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Lincoln's Body: A Cultural History
"[A]n astonishingly interesting interpretation…Fox is wonderfully shrewd and often dazzling." —Jill Lepore, New York Times Book Review
Abraham Lincoln remains America’s most beloved leader. The fact that he was lampooned in his day as "ugly and grotesque" only made Lincoln more endearing to millions. In Lincoln’s Body, acclaimed cultural historian Richard Wightman Fox explores how deeply, and how differently, Americans—black and white, male and female, Northern and Southern—have valued our sixteenth president, from his own lifetime to the Hollywood biopics about him. Lincoln continues to survive in a body of memory that speaks volumes about our nation.
"[A]n astonishingly interesting interpretation…Fox is wonderfully shrewd and often dazzling." —Jill Lepore, New York Times Book Review
Abraham Lincoln remains America’s most beloved leader. The fact that he was lampooned in his day as "ugly and grotesque" only made Lincoln more endearing to millions. In Lincoln’s Body, acclaimed cultural historian Richard Wightman Fox explores how deeply, and how differently, Americans—black and white, male and female, Northern and Southern—have valued our sixteenth president, from his own lifetime to the Hollywood biopics about him. Lincoln continues to survive in a body of memory that speaks volumes about our nation.
Richard Wightman Fox is a professor of history at the University of Southern California and the author of Jesus in America and Trials of Intimacy, among other books. He lives in Venice, California.
Table of Contents
Preface xi
Part 1 The Public Body (1840-1865)
1 Lincoln's Body Politic 3
2 Last Words, Last Breath 24
3 The Martyr and His Relics 47
4 African Americans and Their Emancipator 74
5 Rolling Funeral, Living Corpse 97
Part 2 The Enshrined Body (1865-1909)
6 The First Lincoln Memorials 127
7 Monuments for the Ages 147
8 Black Emancipation, White Reunion 164
9 Celebrating the Centenary of 1909 184
Part 3 The National Body (1909-2015)
10 Solidifying the Lincoln Cult: Two Memorials 213
11 The Hero on Screen, from Griffith to Gage 238
12 Standing in Lincoln's Shadow 256
13 Reviving the Emancipator 279
14 Lincoln Sightings at the Bicentenary: Obama, Disney, Spielberg 300