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The Puliter-Prize winning classic and national bestseller returns! In this brilliant biography?a Pulitzer Prize?winning national bestseller?David Herbert Donald, Harvard professor emeritus, traces Sumner's life as the nation careens toward civil war. In a period when senators often exercised more influence than presidents, Senator Charles Sumner was one of the most powerful forces in the American government and remains one of the most controversial figures in American history. His show more uncompromising moral standards made him a lightning rod in an era fraught with conflict.Sumner's fight to end slavery made him a hero in the North and stirred outrage in the South. In what has been called the first blow of the Civil War, he was physically attacked by a colleague on the Senate floor. Unwavering and arrogant, Sumner refused to abandon the moral high ground, even if doing so meant the onslaught of the nation's most destructive war. He used his office and influence to transform the United States during the most contentious and violent period in the nation's history.
Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War presents a remarkably different view of our bloodiest war through an insightful reevaluation of the man who stood at its center.
"A truly perceptive study."
American Heritage
"Few books can be recommended wholeheartedly to the specialist and the general reader alike. This one can."
New York Times Book Review
"[Full of] Donald's unparalleled knowledge and provocative interpretations."
James M. McPherson, New York Times Book Review
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947 Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, by David Donald (read 17 Mar 1968) (Pulitzer Biography prize for 1961) This is a scholarly historical study. It takes Sumner from his birth in Boston in 1811 up to the beginning of the Civil War. I had recalled the assault on Sumner by Preston Brooks always horrified me and was incomprehensible. This book shows the context and makes it seem less hard to understand. Sumner was given to provocative speeches, and while essentially right, when I read this book I was getting conservative enough so as to feel his means extreme. Actually, the book is very objective and does not show Sumner in an exactly favorable light. I read the second volume of this two-volume biography on July 25, 1971.
All the discussions of Lincoln and his birthday reminded me of this two volume (2nd volume:[b:Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man|362187|Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man|David Herbert Donald|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|352282]) biography of Sumner, notorious for having been beaten up by an ardent segregationist on the floor of the Senate. It was excellent and I should get off the stick and read Donald's biography of Lincoln, too: [b:Lincoln|106590|Lincoln|David Herbert Donald|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171565732s/106590.jpg|1733479]
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24+ Works 6,430 Members
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and historian David Herbert Donald was born October 1, 1920 in Goodman, Miss. He married Aida DiPace in 1955, they had one child, Bruce Randall. He received an A.B. in 1941 from Millsaps College; an A.M. in 1942, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1946. Donald has been an associate professor of history show more at Smith College and a professor of history at Columbia University; Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University. He was also Harry C. Warren Professor of American History, chair of the graduate program in American civilization, and professor emeritus at Harvard University. Much of Donald's work involves exploring and interpreting the American Civil War and its central figure, Abraham Lincoln. Some recent works includes Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe, Lincoln, and Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, 1996. He received Pulitzer Prizes in biography for both Charles Sumner and Look Homeward. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1960
- People/Characters
- Charles Sumner
- Important places
- USA
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 923.273 — History & geography Biographies, Genealogy, Healdry Unique Notables Government North America
- LCC
- E415.9 .S9 .D6 — History of the United States United States Revolution to the Civil War, 1775/1783-1861 By period Middle nineteenth century, 1845/1848-1861 Biography
- BISAC
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- Members
- 240
- Popularity
- 134,945
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.56)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 8
