We Cannot Escape History: LINCOLN AND THE LAST BEST HOPE OF EARTH - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0252021908 ISBN 13: 9780252021909

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1995

Synopsis

A remarkable group of top Lincoln and Civil War scholars come together to explore the meaning of Lincoln for the destiny of the United States. They focus on Lincoln's view of American history and on his legacy, and, in the process, deepen the reader's understanding of and appreciation for the complexity of the problems Lincoln faced and for the genius of his leadership.

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Reviews

On view last year at California's Huntington Library, the "largest exhibition of original Lincoln materials ever mounted" attracted more than throngs: it pulled in the pens of the best Civil War historians now working. These are their interpretive essays that opened the show, and uniformly excellent they are. Editor McPherson, Kenneth Stampp, Mark Neely, and seven others address discrete topics, like Neely on party politicking in Illinois during the war, but they all tackle the Civil War's central theme: what does America stand for, and who is an American? In answer some authors search for a "usable" Lincoln; Stampp argues that Lincoln himself no less used the past, specifically constitutional history, to buttress his positions during the antebellum debates. The "usable past" authors appraise how Lincoln has appeared to contemporaries through time: to America's allies in World War I, to present-day multiculturalists, and to popular culture ala Disney. With Harold Holzer adding an exegesis of Lincoln's extemporaneous speeches, this collection's variety should sate readers with an unslakable thirst for Lincoln and tempt former tipplers at the always flowing Lincolniana biblio-tap. Gilbert Taylor

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252021908
• ISBN 13: 9780252021909
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184
• Editor: McPherson James M.