The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech that Nobody Knows

by Gabor Boritt Narrated by Michael Kramer

Overview

The literature of the Gettysburg Address tends to fall into one of two extremes. At one end are those books that maintain that Lincoln wrote his speech hastily, even on a scrap of paper on the train en route from Washington to Gettysburg. In this version, Lincoln delivered his remarks to an uncomprehending public, which applauded politely, failing to appreciate his genius. Many of the books that argue this point of view are out of print today, but the myths and legends live on.



At the other end of the spectrum are those books that argue that Lincoln's remarks were written with great care and that they altered the course of the Civil War, even of the country. This point of view exalts the Gettysburg Address at the expense of the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been made public eleven months earlier.



Gabor Boritt, a Lincoln and Civil War scholar who teaches at Gettysburg College and lives in an old farmhouse adjacent to the battlefield, says that Lincoln's remarks were written rapidly, though not at the last minute, and they received attention, though not nearly so much attention as the lengthy remarks of the featured speaker, Edward Everett. But Lincoln's address was largely forgotten for decades afterward. It had no effect on the Civil War and played no role in American history until the twentieth century.



Boritt narrates the events of November 19, 1863, as well as the events preceding and following the dedication of the soldiers' cemetery, which was the occasion for Lincoln's remarks. He describes the conditions in Gettysburg in the aftermath of the battle-the stench of rotting corpses of horses and mules filling the air, wounded soldiers occupying hospitals and houses everywhere, and the damage done to roads and houses that were still being repaired when the cemetery was dedicated. He describes Lincoln's arrival by train, the cheering crowds that applauded the president that night before the ceremony, and the events of the great day itself, as well as the immediate aftermath of the ceremonies as the town tried to return to its pre-battle life.



Boritt's vivid narrative is filled with colorful, little-known details. It re-creates the events, but it also assesses the significance of Lincoln's remarks and places them in their proper historical context as no book has before, showing how the remarks that were quickly forgotten took on a new life decades later and became the most famous speech in American history.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In this engrossing study, Civil War scholar Boritt (editor of The Lincoln Enigma) offers a revealing history of that most famous piece of American oratory, the Gettysburg Address. Boritt opens with an evocative description of a stench-filled, corpse-strewn Gettysburg on July 4, 1863, after the battle. When Lincoln arrived a few months later to dedicate the national cemetery, he had an important task: "to explain to the people," writes Borritt, in plain, powerful prose, "why the bloodletting must go on." After vividly recreating the delivery of the address, Boritt discusses the speech's mixed reception. Republican newspapers praised it; Democrats, viewing it as the beginning of Lincoln's re-election campaign, belittled or tried to ignore it; one Democratic newspaper called the speech a "mawkish harangue." Just as bad, Lincoln's graceful oratory was garbled in transmission to newspapers. Most interesting is Boritt's recounting of how, after Lincoln's assassination, the speech was mostly forgotten until the 1880s, when Gettysburg increasingly became a symbol of a reunion between North and South, and the Gettysburg Address took on the sheen of America's "sacred scriptures." Lincoln's poetic language, says Boritt, helps the speech live on, and the message of "sacrificial redemption" still speaks to Americans today. This elegant account will delight readers who enjoyed Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg. (Lengthy appendixes parsing drafts of the speech, however, will interest mainly aficionados.) 16 pages of b&w illus., and b&w illus. throughout. (Nov. 19) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Boritt (Civil War studies, Gettysburg Coll.) manages to offer a fresh perspective on one of America's most famous speeches-which was not the main event at the cemetery dedication at Gettysburg in November 1863, four months after the battle-even though it has already been studied extensively. The author sets the speech in its contemporary context and, most interestingly, demonstrates that it was not only minimally noticed by Lincoln's peers and the press at the time but was virtually forgotten to history until the 20th century. He addresses many of the myths surrounding the address, such as that Lincoln wrote it in haste on the train to Gettysburg. In fact, it went through a number of careful revisions. He includes images of the known copies of the handwritten address, broadsides and programs relating to the dedication ceremony at Gettysburg, selections of photos from the era, and a line-by-line analysis of the various drafts of the address. Boritt's narrative style will appeal to lay readers, perhaps more so than Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg, while his extensive research and insightful conclusions will appeal to scholars. Recommended especially for libraries with a special interest in Lincoln and Civil War history.-Robert Flatley, Kutztown Univ., PA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

From the Publisher

"Elegant and absorbing...a definitive book." — David Herbert Donald, author of Lincoln

"Revelatory...After Boritt, the Gettysburg Address can never be read, heard, or interpreted the same way again." — Harold Holzer, author of Lincoln at Cooper Union

"A magisterial work, a brilliant and moving story...an instant classic." — Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170717866
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	12/29/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos