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Narrated by David Drummond
John C. WaughUnabridged — 12 hours, 0 minutes
Narrated by David Drummond
John C. WaughUnabridged — 12 hours, 0 minutes
Lincoln is the central axis of this story about America's seemingly unstoppable march toward war, the shattering of its political landscape, and its grappling with the moral underpinnings of a republic of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Here are such key events as the Mexican-American War, the Dred Scott Case, westward expansion, the rise of the industrial north, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and the birth of the Republican Party. And here we meet Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Zachary Taylor, Stephen Douglas, and abolitionists Wendell Phillips, John Brown, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. We see it all through the breathtaking writings of Lincoln himself, detailing his emergence onto the political scene and the evolution of his beliefs about the Union, democracy, slavery, and civil war.
A swift-paced narrative of Lincoln's pre-presidential life, the book is a competent introduction to what George Will once called "the world's noblest political career." Waugh tells a thoroughly familiar story in a breezy, colloquial style.
—The Washington Post
Former Christian Science Monitorjournalist Waugh is the author of six books on the Civil War, including Re-electing Lincoln, perhaps the most accessible and complete volume on the pivotal presidential election of 1864. In his latest book, Waugh employs the same combination of lively prose backed with solid research to examine Lincoln's life story from birth to his first presidential inauguration, rarely straying from the themes of the future of the Union, impending Civil War and, more importantly, slavery. Waugh covers the events in Lincoln's pre-April 1861 life, making liberal use of Lincoln's own words, primarily from letters and speeches, and the reminiscences of one of Lincoln's closest friends and associates, his former law partner William Herndon. Waugh shows that although Lincoln embraced white supremacy and opposed interracial marriage and black suffrage during his early years as an Illinois state legislator, he managed to separate those views from his strong opposition to the institution of slavery. "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong," Lincoln later said. "I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel." Waugh is particular adept at weaving details of Lincoln's family life into the narrative, which focuses on decidedly political matters, including the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates and the 1860 presidential election campaign. (Nov.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationJournalist Waugh sketches Lincoln from his parentage up to the attack on Fort Sumpter. His easy and good-humored style will appeal to many readers. He does not forsake arguably unreliable narrators, such as Lincoln cousin Dennis Hanks and while some scholars might object, others will see the magic in keeping such voices with us in following Lincoln's journey. Recommended for public and undergraduate libraries.
Waugh (On the Brink of Civil War: The Compromise of 1850 and How It Changed the Course of American History, 2003, etc.), a Civil War historian and former bureau chief of the Christian Science Monitor, offers a lively biography of the Great Emancipator, from birth to first inauguration. Where Julie M. Fenster's recent The Case of Abraham Lincoln: A Story of Adultery, Murder and the Making of a Great President (2007) considered the personal, legal and political life of Lincoln through the prism of a single criminal case, Waugh's more conventional treatment offers nothing new either in approach or content. Still, his judicious use of the historical record and his dramatic prose make for an enjoyable read. He provides sufficient detail about Lincoln the impoverished youth, the striving young clerk, the busy lawyer and the harried family man, and he pauses frequently to analyze Lincoln's character and mind. But the emphasis here is on Lincoln the political animal, particularly his evolution from a little-known Illinois legislator to a one-term U.S. congressman, to a marginalized Whig Party operator, to national spokesman for and eventual nominee of the newly emerging Republican Party. Waugh presents Lincoln as a special product of mid-century Illinois, that critical swing state, a peculiar amalgam of sophistication and rusticity, of Northern and Southern sensibilities. By 1856, the state had produced only one universally recognized statesman-Stephen A. Douglas, too often portrayed as Lincoln's evil twin, but here rightly regarded as brilliantly able, caught in the same historical vise that held Lincoln fast: how to succeed politically in the face of a single explosive issue, slavery, thatthreatened to sunder the union. The author is especially good on the Lincoln/Douglas dynamic, following their parallel careers from their battles as young lawyers in Springfield to their epic 1858 senate race, to the presidential contest of 1860. In the end, Lincoln's sometimes slow but always careful reasoning, his eloquence and, above all, his ceaseless ambition brought him to power where his talent proved, indeed, great enough to ensure the republic's survival. Unlikely to impress jaded Lincoln devotees, but sure to charm newcomers. Agent: Mike Hamilburg/The Mitchell J. Hamilburg Agency
PRAISE FOR REELECTING LINCOLN
"Reelecting Lincoln . . . brings a great deal of discrete information together in an informative fashion and it is, as Waugh well knows--and well tells it--a terrific story." --The Washington Post
"Waugh . . . recounts the 1864 election with great narrative skill. The story sweeps along, with brilliant vignettes of all the players in the drama and one vivid scene after another." --The New York Times Book Review
"General audiences will delight in Waugh's expansive narrative full of colorful anecdotes. This book vividly illustrates why Abraham Lincoln remains a touchstone for democracy."
| BN ID: | 2940169660340 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 11/12/2007 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
