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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... never belonged to a church . He was “ an infi- del , " a prairie lawyer who told stories that made the pious wince . Determined to correct Holland's portrait , Herndon set out “ to write the life of Lincoln as I saw him - honestly ...
... never forgets the love he felt for her . * As he grows to maturity , Sandburg's Lincoln is indigenously American , utterly shaped by the sprawling , unruly , pungent de- mocracy of his day . He is simple , honest and ambitious ...
... never have been an impeachment trial , never a radical reconstruction , never an army of occupation , never a Ku Klux Klan , never all those racial troubles to haunt later generations , if only Father Abraham had not died that terrible ...
... never commanded a large following in the United States , but it has persisted . In 1932 , at a time when most Americans - even members of the Ku Klux Klan - were trying to " get right with Lincoln , " a prominent old Virginian was still ...
... Never mind that Lincoln had said this only after Douglas had persistently accused him of desiring Negro equality and intermar- riage in white - supremacist Illinois . Never mind that in those same debates Lincoln had declared that the ...
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 |