Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths“There is no better introduction to current thinking about Lincoln and his place in history.” —Newsday An essential book for any student of Lincoln and American history, Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths is acclaimed Lincoln biographer Stephen B. Oates's unique exploration of America's sixteenth president in reality and memory. In this multifaceted portrait, Oates, "the most popular historical interpreter of Lincoln" (Gabor S. Boritt, New York Times Book Review), exposes the human side of the great and tragic president—including his depression, his difficulties with love, and his troubled and troubling attitudes about slavery—while also confronting the many legends that have arisen around "Honest Abe." Oates throughout raises timely questions about what the Lincoln mythos reveals about the American people. |
From inside the book
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... assassination , and to suggest the meaning of that shattering and final act . The book ends with what I hope is a ... assassinated - an allegation enshrined as fact in several books and a recent motion picture and periodically reported ...
... assassination , the man became obscured in an out- pouring of flowery orations and tear - filled eulogies . As the seasons passed , Lincoln went on to legend and martyrdom , inflated by the myth makers into a godly Emancipator who ...
... assassination , a poet's celebration of a " sane and sacred death " that filtered " into the nation and race " and gave " a cement to the whole People , subtler , more underly- ing , than anything in written Constitution , or courts or ...
... Assassination , though , chastened his legion of critics and brought them swiftly into the ranks of the glorifiers . Historian and Democrat George Bancroft , who had damned Lincoln during the war , made " scholarly , ring- ing tributes ...
... assassinated , many southerners re- gretted the manner of his death , fretting that the Yankees would blame them for it and punish them cruelly . But many other southerners rejoiced at the news . " All honor to J. Wilkes Booth , " a ...
Contents
ManyMooded | 31 |
All Conquering Mind | 45 |
Mr Lincoln | 51 |
The Beacon Light of Liberty | 57 |
This Vast Moral Evil | 65 |
My Dissatisfied Fellow Countrymen | 75 |
The Central Idea | 89 |
The Man of Our Redemption | 111 |
Final | 149 |
Aftermath | 164 |
Acknowledgments | 189 |
Index | 215 |