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Abraham Lincoln (2009)

by George S. McGovern

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1732156,135 (3.53)8
Abraham Lincoln towers above the others who have held the office of president--the pillar of strength whose words bound up the nation's wounds. His presidency is the hinge on which American history pivots, the time when the young republic collapsed of its own contradictions and a new birth of freedom, sanctified by blood, created the United States we know today. His story has been told many times, but never by a man who himself sought the office of president and contemplated its awesome responsibilities. George S. McGovern--Midwesterner, former U.S. senator, presidential candidate, veteran, and historian by training-- shows how Lincoln sometimes went astray, particularly in his restrictions on civil liberties, but also how he adjusted his sights and transformed the Civil War from a political dispute to a moral crusade. McGovern's account reminds us why we hold Lincoln in such esteem and why he remains the standard by which his successors are measured.--From publisher description.… (more)
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Celebrity author McGovern here takes on the unenviable task of saying something fresh about our sixteenth president. In this he succeeds fairly well, but the book is severely flawed. The best part of the book is his close analysis of Lincoln's oratory, and the author also provides a brisk and informative narrative of the course of the War of the Rebellion which would serve as a very good encyclopedia article. The only thing which gets in McGovern's way at times is facts; as every schoolboy knows, the Battle of Perryville wasn't fought in Tennessee, and perhaps the single most ridiculous assertion I've ever read in a book (which is setting the bar quite high) is that Lincoln was the first president to confront threat of dissent, secession, or rebellion. In the next paragraph he goes on to describe how Old Hickory dealt with the nullification crisis, and, indeed, I find it more difficult to think of a Lincoln predecessor who didn't face such a crisis than one who did--James Monroe and some of the short-timers, perhaps. The book's big conclusions are largely apt, though preacher's kid McGovern is perhaps a little quick to portray Lincoln as a devout Christian, and he certainly exhibits total buyin to America's ever-present hagiography of the man. ( )
  Big_Bang_Gorilla | Apr 21, 2018 |
A short and adulatory introduction to Lincoln and his presidency, written in an easy style which would be useful to a high school student. Hits the high points but leaves plenty to follow up on. ( )
1 vote auntmarge64 | Jan 3, 2012 |
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Two hundred years ago Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in the Kentucky wilderness.
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Abraham Lincoln towers above the others who have held the office of president--the pillar of strength whose words bound up the nation's wounds. His presidency is the hinge on which American history pivots, the time when the young republic collapsed of its own contradictions and a new birth of freedom, sanctified by blood, created the United States we know today. His story has been told many times, but never by a man who himself sought the office of president and contemplated its awesome responsibilities. George S. McGovern--Midwesterner, former U.S. senator, presidential candidate, veteran, and historian by training-- shows how Lincoln sometimes went astray, particularly in his restrictions on civil liberties, but also how he adjusted his sights and transformed the Civil War from a political dispute to a moral crusade. McGovern's account reminds us why we hold Lincoln in such esteem and why he remains the standard by which his successors are measured.--From publisher description.

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