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However it was very readable and still interesting and the appendix with many of Lincoln's speeches was a nice addition to my library. So, in one sense I was disappointed; I had expected new essays from a number of Lincoln scholars. It wasn't clear to me when I ordered this C-Span produced book that the information inside was going to be a rehash of what various historians had said over the years about Lincoln. Some were just a few paragraphs long and were excerpted from interviews which may have been about Lincoln but also interviews which may have had something entirely different as the main topic.
What more could a book do. What a wonderful & interesting collection on Lincoln, serves to inform, stimulate & encourage further research just as CSPAN itself does.
If one would expect that a book that is so wide-ranging, in terms of subjects and authors, would seem quite choppy, he would be correct. This book is a compilation of excerpts from interviews of both well-known and obscure authors and other Lincoln-connected individuals, who have appeared on C-Span over the last fifteen years, primarily on the "Booknotes" program conducted by Brain Lamb. Some of the entries are so short and authored by such obscure individuals that they could have easily been left out. The book is perhaps best labeled as a Lincoln sampler, which is not without its usefulness.
Even some of the key authors' interviews are unnecessarily broken into two chapters. Anyone desiring a comprehensive look at Lincoln would be far better served by a serious biography, such as the one by David Donald. Because the book is so uneven and makes no real effort at completeness, it cannot be seen as a must-read book. Because the book includes so many great authors, it undoubtedly will stimulate further reading: for example, Edward Steers' entry on the assassination was quite interesting.
In two of the longer entries, Lerone Bennett, Jr., and Thomas Dilorenzo take issue with the deification of Lincoln, the notion that he ended slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation, his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and his pro-Hamilton economics. Exacting standards of quality are a bit misplaced: the chapters are mere informal conversations. The seventy-four inclusions range widely, covering subjects from Lincoln's childhood, young adulthood in New Salem, Ill, his romances and marital life, his early political career and activities as a lawyer, his campaign for the Senate and debates with Douglas, his views on race and religion, his dealings with his Cabinet and generals, his life in Washington, Gettysburg and his reverence for the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, his image making especially through photography, his assassination, and more. Yet, the interview format does give authors a means of expressing understandings beyond their more systematic, formal efforts.
Also, his more noted speeches are included. The reader will find represented noted Lincoln scholars such as David Donald, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Allen Guelzo, James McPherson, Stephen Oates, Harold Holzer, and Douglas Wilson. The book conveniently includes a time-line of Lincoln's life and maps showing where he lived, the cities where he debated Douglas, and the railroad routes of his inaugural journey from Springfield to Washington in 1861 and the funeral train back to his home in April, 1865.
For example, in one essay Lincoln is said to have been too slow and cautious about emancipation in part because he believed that Blacks could never live in peace in the U.S. Unfortunately it seems that more of the essays praise, even deify, Lincoln, but then that is the politically correct interpretation of this complex man.This book has not convinced me that he deserves to be called the best President of the USA. It is a good compilation of various essays/observations on Lincoln, but some of the essays are overly simplistic and even silly -- in one word, they are embarassing.
Well, unfortunately we know that history shows that Blacks and Whites have had many difficulties living together -- some think or maybe more accurately they hope that now with Barack Obama as President of the USA that Blacks and Whites now can finally live together in peace and prosperity. I am not sure that any book could.However, some of the essays or observations are pedantic and even juvenile. We will see.I find the organization of the book to be confusing -- essays/observations are grouped together artificially.The book is a good companion to other books.It makes a good beginning at trying to show all sides of Lincoln.
I love CSPAN so when this book was recommended there I bought it. Then in another essay Lincoln is said to have strongly believed in emancipation, equality of Blacks to Whites, and the ability of Blacks and Whites to live together peacefully and prosperously. I assume they are transcripts of conversations and that they probably were more impressive on TV, but they read very poorly, like something a middle school student could have written.
I like how some essays contradict each other -- it is unfortunately too rare to get various points of view on a subject. with Whites and that everyone would be better off if Blacks were sent somewhere else -- back to Africa or to the Caribbean.
Yet no criteria for greatness are ever proposed. The intellectual analogue of this truism, however--the advent of ideas, subjects, and events that are understandable but not discussable because powerful forces demand their uncritical acceptance--has no discernible upside. In common with the promotional materials, they describe this book as balanced, apparently because it contains some depreciative comments or essays. Lincoln has become one of two topics (the other being the bipartisan establishment's so-called War on Terror) where fewer discouraging words are encountered than ever were heard back home on the range. Some of the essays, speeches, and comments contained in this collection are substantial reflections upon the actions and character of Abraham Lincoln.
This statement is not merely one disgruntled viewer's opinion; it is an observable fact.Years ago, a witty man, noting the fast-approaching omnipresence of the computer, pointed out that Americans now owned two things that they couldn't fix and didn't really understand (the car was the other thing). (Readers of the late Shelby Foote know that he was no reflexive admirer of the sixteenth president, but on air he chose his words with great care). Dependence upon more or less incomprehensible technology seems to be a fact of modern life, and it may be as much a good thing as a bad. The changes at C-SPAN and the structure of this essay collection indicate that Lincoln is well on the way to becoming one more topic where unanimity of opinion is expected--at least if one values keeping his livelihood. In the present circumstances a reader might suspect that their absence is no accident. Not only did her proved plagiarism fail to dampen her career--in a sphere of activity that claims to prize integrity of thought and research above all else--but it almost seems to have hastened her admission to the pantheon.
Most, however, whether well written and argued or otherwise, are of passing interest, except to those who want a souvenir of their C-SPAN watching. One is led to conclude that in the field of Lincoln scholarship two writers versus fifty-three constitutes balance. Does greatness in twenty-first-century America admit of such stuff.Regular watchers of C-SPAN know that this once impartial operation has changed during the past decade. The blurb from Kirkus Reviews, listed above, is an accurate guide to the scope and origins of this book.Kirkus's review and the others, readers will note, are uniformly laudatory. Consider the case of Doris Kearns Goodwin. Whatever one's views about Lincoln, it is hard not to suspect that someone has stacked the deck.Many but not all of the contributors--the book calls them "great American historians"--hold academic posts; few will consider this state of affairs a defect.
In fact, however, Bennett and DiLorenzo are the only clearly disapprobatory voices in evidence. Yet were a collection of essays about Jesus of Nazareth published with a similar proportion of yea- and naysayers, it is difficult to imagine that people would describe it as balanced.
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