By Sidney Blumenthal
The first of a multi-volume history of Lincoln as a
political genius—from his obscure beginnings to his presidency, assassination,
and the overthrow of his post-Civil War dreams of Reconstruction. This first
volume traces Lincoln from his painful youth, describing himself as “a slave,”
to his emergence as the man we recognize as Abraham Lincoln.
From his youth as a “newsboy,” a voracious newspaper reader,
Lincoln became a free thinker, reading Tom Paine, as well as Shakespeare and
the Bible, and studying Euclid to sharpen his arguments as a lawyer.
Lincoln’s anti-slavery thinking began in his childhood
amidst the Primitive Baptist antislavery dissidents in backwoods Kentucky and
Indiana, the roots of his repudiation of Southern Christian pro-slavery
theology. Intensely ambitious, he held political aspirations from his earliest
years. Obsessed with Stephen Douglas, his political rival, he battled him for
decades. Successful as a circuit lawyer, Lincoln built his team of loyalists.
Blumenthal reveals how Douglas and Jefferson Davis acting together made
possible Lincoln’s rise.
Blumenthal describes a socially awkward suitor who had a
nervous breakdown over his inability to deal with the opposite sex. His
marriage to the upper class Mary Todd was crucial to his social aspirations and
his political career. Blumenthal portrays Mary as an asset to her husband, a
rare woman of her day with strong political opinions.
Blumenthal’s robust portrayal is based on prodigious
research of Lincoln’s record and of the period and its main players. It
reflects both Lincoln’s time and the struggle that consumes our own political
debate.
ISBN 978-1476777252, Simon & Schuster, © 2016,
Hardcover, 576 pages, Photographs, Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliography &
Index. $35.00. To purchase this book click HERE.
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