Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year (original 2012; edition 2012)

So much has been written about the Civil War and about Abraham Lincoln that there may seem to be no nuance of either that has been left unexplored. In Rise to Greatness, however, David Von Drehle finds an intriguing new avenue of approach. The book follows Lincoln month by month through 1862, which, the author argues, was the pivotal year of the war--not 1863, as many aver. Eighteen sixty-two, after all, saw such events as the fall of New Orleans, which yielded access to the lower Mississippi River; the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation; and the adoption of the practice of living off the land, which lessened the need for supply lines and facilitated troop movements. Not all readers will concur with Von Drehle's assertion, but this reviewer found his argument persuasive. Rise to Greatness is an outstanding read and a real page-turner. Those interested in Lincoln or in the Civil War should not miss it. ( )

Makes the overwhelming obstables Lincoln faced in 1862 very clear. Almost wonder how he survived through it all. January 2013

In Rise to Greatness, David Von Drehle follows Abraham Lincoln through the pivotal year of 1862, as he confronts a series of crises - personal, political, and military. The book opens with the White House reception on January 1, 1862, and ends one year later with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

During that year, Lincoln lost his favorite son to typhoid, and had to deal with Mary Lincoln's emotional breakdowns and compulsive spending. He faced conflict and intrigue within his cabinet. He had to balance a variety of competing interests to hold the Union together; any action that pleased the abolitionists would threaten the ties to the slaveholding border states that had remained in the Union. Southern Democrats, including Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (notorious for the Dred Scott decision) held a majority on the Supreme Court, and would not hesitate to interfere with his actions. Finally, and most frustrating, Lincoln attempted to prod a succession of inexperienced generals to take action and produce the victories that were desperately needed in order to prevent European powers from intervening to support the Confederacy.

Von Drehle used a variety of personal diaries, Lincoln biographies, and newspaper accounts of the day in an attempt to get inside Lincoln's head and understand how he managed to survive that terrible year. Anyone not familiar with the general narrative might want to start with a more comprehensive Lincoln biography or civil war history, but this book provides good insight into the situations Lincoln faced, and the decisions he made, during that time. ( )

I have long believed, as Von Drehle does, that 1862 was the most pivotal year in the Civil War, Lincoln's life, and perhaps all of American history. Not only do we get an in-depth, well researched look at Lincoln as president and commander in chief, but also as a family man. Finding balance between needing generals to lead a fighting army, keeping the Norther citizens in favor of his policies, working in Emancipation all while keeping border states in the Union and European states out of the conflict was the key to this crucial year. Being able to see Lincoln struggle with these issues makes it clear that later successes would not have been possible without these trails.

Von Drehle weaves a compelling narrative that is very easy to read that is quite detailed without getting bogged down in minutiae. I would highly recommend this for the libraries of serious Civil War and Lincoln scholars. ( )

By the middle of 1863, it was obvious to most observers that the Confederacy was doomed; it was only a matter of time. If the North could just find the will to keep fighting, the Union would survive. But only eighteen months earlier, the outcome had been very much in doubt, and were it not for the particular talents of one man, things might have turned out very differently. As often seems to have happened throughout history, the right man was in the right place just when he was most needed: Abraham Lincoln was in the White House.

Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year is David Von Drehle’s account of how Lincoln, during 1862, evolved into exactly the leader the United States so desperately needed if the Union were to win the Civil War. The book offers a month-by-month account of the challenges faced by a President in command of an army led by one incompetent general after the other. Von Drehle makes a strong case that if Lincoln had not been up to the challenges of 1862, the military successes of 1863 may never have happened because it might have already been too late by then.

Lincoln’s first task was to build an army almost from scratch. The military was unprepared to fight a war of the scale of the one it now faced, and the thousands of newly recruited soldiers depended on a handful of experienced officers (thanks to the Mexican-American war of 1846-1848) to get them ready for combat. By 1862, Lincoln expected his army to be the aggressor, but he had little luck in finding a commanding general capable of taking the fight to the enemy. That he allowed the incompetent egomaniac George McClellan to keep overall command of the Union army for as long as he did was, perhaps, Lincoln’s biggest failure. By the end of 1862, when he had finally ridded himself of the insubordinate little man, it was obvious that Lincoln had solidly redefined his role as Commander-in-Chief - and that he was prepared to do whatever was necessary to win the war.

Incompetent generals with no game plan were not Lincoln’s only problem. The civilian population of the North did not seem to have any more of a will to fight, or confidence in ultimate victory, than most of his generals had. His cabinet was, by Lincoln’s choice, filled with political rivals with agendas of their own. In addition to his political problems, the president had to overcome the great personal grief of losing a son to typhoid, and had to endure the erratic, often embarrassing, behavior of his wife as she tried to cope with the same loss. Not a moment of peace, would this president know.

But, endure it all, he did, and in the process, Lincoln would claim his place in history as one of the greatest leaders, especially in time of war, that the world has ever seen. David Von Drehle’s account of the year Abraham Lincoln “invented the modern presidency” is a fascinating one that now has a permanent spot on my bookshelves.

Rated at: 5.0 ( )