Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America"The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling demonstration than in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was asked to memorialize the gruesome battle. Instead he gave the whole nation "a new birth of freedom" in the space of a mere 272 words. His entire life and previous training and his deep political experience went into this, his revolutionary masterpiece. By examining both the address and Lincoln in their historical moment and cultural frame, Wills breathes new life into words we thought we knew, and reveals much about a president so mythologized but often misunderstood. Wills shows how Lincoln came to change the world and to effect an intellectual revolution, how his words had to and did complete the work of the guns, and how Lincoln wove a spell that has not yet been broken"--Publisher's description. |
Contents
Key to Brief Citations | 17 |
Oratory of the Greek Revival | 41 |
Gettysburg and the Culture of Death | 63 |
Copyright | |
10 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abraham Lincoln American army Athenian Athens Bancroft battle burial called Civil claim classical Cobbe edition Confederate Congress Constitution copy corps Daniel Webster dead death Declaration of Independence dedication delivery text Demosthenes Douglas draft Edward Everett emancipation Emerson enemy Epitaphios equal fathers Funeral gave George George Bancroft Gettysburg Address Gorgias graves Greece Greek Greek Revival Harvard Herndon Herndon-Weik heroes honor Hyperides Ibid idea ideal Illinois Invention of Athens James John Joseph Story Justice Kerameikos language liberty living Loraux Lysias Mark Twain Meade Menexenus ment military monument Mount Auburn nation nature Nicolay North oration patriotic Pericles platform political praise President Rebel rebellion Revolution rhetoric Saunders sentence Seward Slave Power slavery soldiers South Southern speak speech Theodore Parker thing thought Thucydides tion Transcendentalist troops Twain Union United University Press Washington whole William Wills's words