The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Abraham Lincoln; Stephen Douglas

ISBN 10: 1602834024 ISBN 13: 9781602834026

Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America, 2009

Synopsis

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates made history and changed its course through seven legendary match-ups between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the 1858 Illinois senatorial race. Although he lost the election, Lincolns gift for oratory and his antislavery stance made him a nationally known figure, and led to his election to the presidency in 1860. Never before presented in audio, these debates and great statesmen are brought to life by narrators Richard Dreyfuss (Douglas) and David Strathairn (Lincoln). Perfectly timed for the Lincoln Bicentennial celebrations, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates provide a soundtrack to a nation discovering its better self.

About this title

About the Author:

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He led the US through its greatest constitutional, military, and moral crises--the American Civil War--preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, strengthening the national government, and modernizing the economy. Reared in a poor family in rural Indiana, he was a self-educated man. In the 1830s he became a country lawyer, a Whig Party leader, and Illinois state legislator. He later served as a one-term member of the House of Representatives during the 1840s.

From AudioFile:

In 1858, the two candidates for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, Republican Abraham Lincoln and incumbent Democrat Stephen Douglas, engaged in a series of three-hour debates across the state, talking mainly about slavery and territorial expansion. This audiobook is a word-for-word chronicle of those debates. David Strathairn (Lincoln) and Richard Dreyfuss (Douglas) do an excellent job acting out these historic meetings. They use their own voices, with no attempt to recreate nineteenth-century Midwestern accents, and they successfully mimic the speaking patterns and pacing unique to orators of that era. Lincoln and Douglas never formally engaged in conversations during their debates, but Strathairn and Dreyfuss reconstruct the passion and lively repartee that characterized their confrontations. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1602834024
• ISBN 13: 9781602834026
• Binding: Audio CD
• Number of pages: 14