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
Results 1-5 of 10
... . " Humanity has lost a firm advocate , our race its Patron Saint , and the good of all the world a fitting object to emulate .... The name Abraham Lincoln will ever be cherished in our hearts , and none will more delight to.
... race , true Christian , true man . " Sheer nonsense ! thundered William H. Herndon , Lincoln's nervous , besotted law partner , when he read Holland's book . This prettified character was not the Lincoln he had known in Illinois . That ...
... race " and gave " a cement to the whole People , subtler , more underly- ing , than anything in written Constitution , or courts or armies . " In Whitman's writings , Sandburg found the central themes of the life he wanted to tell . He ...
... racial troubles to haunt later generations , if only Father Abraham had not died that terrible day in 1865 . And so Lincoln comes to us in the mists of mythology . Still , I have no quarrel with this Lincoln , so long as we make a ...
... race war in Dixie ; Jefferson Davis considered the proclamation " the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man , " and rebels every- where vowed to fight all the harder against the monster who had issued it . When ...
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 |