In The Review Queue: Lincoln’s Sense of Humor

Lincoln’s Sense of Humor

by Richard Carwardine

Abraham Lincoln was the first president to make storytelling, jokes, and laughter tools of the office, and his natural sense of humor has become legendary. Lincoln’s Sense of Humor registers the variety, complexity of purpose, and ethical dimension of Lincoln’s humor and pinpoints the political risks Lincoln ran in telling jokes while the nation was engaged in a bloody struggle for existence.

Complete with amusing anecdotes, this book shows how Lincoln’s uses of humor evolved as he matured and explores its versatility, range of expressions, and multiple sources: western tall tales, morality stories, bawdy jokes, linguistic tricks, absurdities, political satire, and sharp wit. While Lincoln excelled at self-mockery, nothing gave him greater pleasure than satirical work lampooning hypocrisy and ethical double standards. He particularly enjoyed David R. Locke’s satiric writings by Petroleum V. Nasby, a fictional bigoted secessionist preacher, and the book explores the nuances of Lincoln’s enthusiasm for what he called Locke’s genius, showing the moral springs of Lincoln’s humor.

Richard Carwardine methodically demonstrates that Lincoln’s funny stories were the means of securing political or personal advantage, sometimes by frontal assault on opponents but more often by depiction through parable, obfuscation through hilarity, refusal through wit, and diversion through cunning. Throughout his life Lincoln worked to develop the humorist’s craft and hone the art of storytelling. His jokes were valuable in advancing his careers as politician and lawyer and in navigating his course during a storm-tossed presidency. His merriness, however, coexisted with self-absorbed contemplation and melancholy. Humor was his lifeline; dark levity acted as a tonic, giving Lincoln strength to tackle the severe challenges he faced. At the same time, a reputation for unrestrained, uncontrollable humor gave welcome ammunition to his political foes. In fact, Lincoln’s jocularity elicited waves of criticism during his presidency. He was dismissed as a “smutty joker,” a “first rate second rate man,” and a “joke incarnated.”

Since his death, Lincoln’s anecdotes and jokes have become detached from the context that had given them their political and cultural bite, losing much of the ironic and satiric meaning that he had intended. With incisive analysis and laugh-inducing examples, Carwardine helps to recapture a strong component of Lincoln’s character and reanimates the good humor of our sixteenth president.

About the Author

Richard Carwardine is a professor emeritus at Oxford University, where he served as Rhodes Professor of American History from 2002 to 2009 and as president of Corpus Christi College from 2010 to 2016. His analytical biography Lincoln won the Lincoln Prize in 2004 and was subsequently published in the United States as Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power. His other work includes Transatlantic Revivalism: Popular Evangelicalism in Britain and America, 1790–1865; Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America; and (with Jay Sexton) The Global Lincoln.

ISBN 978-0809336142, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2017, Hardcover, 184 pages, Illustrations, End Notes, and Index. $24.93.  To purchase this book click HERE.

In The Review Queue: Lincoln and the Military

Lincoln and the Military

By John F. Marszalek

When Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States in 1860, he came into office with practically no experience in military strategy and tactics. Consequently, at the start of the Civil War, he depended on leading military men to teach him how to manage warfare. As the war continued and Lincoln matured as a military leader, however, he no longer relied on the advice of others and became the major military mind of the war. In this brief overview of Lincoln’s military actions and relationships during the war, John F. Marszalek traces the sixteenth president’s evolution from a nonmilitary politician into the commander in chief who won the Civil War, demonstrating why Lincoln remains America’s greatest military president.

As tensions erupted into conflict in 1861, Lincoln turned to his generals, including Winfield Scott, George B. McClellan, and Henry W. Halleck, for guidance in running the war. These men were products of the traditional philosophy of war, which taught that armies alone wage war and the way to win was to maneuver masses of forces against fractions of the enemy at the key point in the strategic area. As Marszalek shows, Lincoln listened at first, and made mistakes along the way, but he increasingly came to realize that these military men should no longer direct him. He developed a different philosophy of war, one that advocated attacks on all parts of the enemy line and war between not just armies but also societies. Warfare had changed, and now the generals had to learn from their commander in chief. It was only when Ulysses S. Grant became commanding general, Marszalek explains, that Lincoln had a leader who agreed with his approach to war. Implementation of this new philosophy, he shows, won the war for the Union forces.

Tying the necessity of emancipation to preservation of the Union, Marszalek considers the many presidential matters Lincoln had to face in order to manage the war effectively and demonstrates how Lincoln’s determination, humility, sense of humor, analytical ability, and knack for quickly learning important information proved instrumental in his military success. Based primarily on Lincoln’s own words, this succinct volume offers an easily-accessible window into a critical period in the life of Abraham Lincoln and the history of the nation.

About the Author

John F. Marszalek is the Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, Mississippi State University; the executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association's Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University; and the editor of the Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. He is the author or editor of fourteen books, including Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order.

ISBN 978-0809333615, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2014, Hardcover, 168 pages, Photographs, End Notes & Index. $24.95. To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: Lincoln and the Civil War

Lincoln and the Civil War

by Michael Burling Game

Upon being inaugurated as President of the United States Abraham Lincoln found on his desk a letter from Major Robert Anderson, commander of the garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.  Anderson explained that in six weeks the garrison’s supplies would be exhausted, and the fort would need to be either resupplied or surrendered.  It was the first of many such decisions that Lincoln would ultimately face in his years in the White House.

Michael Burlingame, noted Lincoln biographer and historian, has written a volume in Southern Illinois University Press’ series The Concise Lincoln Library. In Lincoln and the Civil War, Mr. Burlingame presents a compact overview of Lincoln’s presidency during the Civil War.

Beginning with Lincoln’s election, Mr. Burlingame’s linear narrative moves quickly but thoroughly through the “Secession Winter” to his inauguration.  All the while Lincoln tried to do nothing that would provoke the outbreak of open hostilities.  Deciding to resupply and not re-enforce Fort Sumter was a masterful decision; placing the blame on the Confederacy for firing the first shot of the war.

In the next chapter, “The War Begins,” Mr. Burlingame covers the daunting challenges Lincoln faced in raising, training, and arming an army to put down the rebellion, and its first battle at Bull Run.

Mr. Burlingame follows Lincoln as he methodically searches for a commanding general who will lead the Union army to victory; hiring and firing, McClellan, Halleck, Burnside, Hooker and Meade.  Finally with Ulysses S. Grant, Lincoln found a man who knew what needed to be done to end the war, and who was not afraid to do it.

One of the largest decisions that faced Lincoln was what to do about slavery.  “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that,” Lincoln famously replied to Horace Greeley.  Mr. Burlingame traces Lincoln’s evolving thoughts on slavery from the deportation and colonization of free blacks, to a gradual compensated emancipation, and finally through to his greatest achievement, the Emancipation Proclamation.

Among the last decisions of the war would be how to end it.  Lincoln wanted a peaceful end to the war, and therefore encouraged Grant and Sherman to offer the Confederate armies generous terms under which to surrender.  By not prosecuting the leaders of the Confederacy, and allowing the Confederate soldiers return to their homes and their lives unmolested Lincoln hoped to secure a peace, which had he lived would have made the reconstruction process easier.

Lincoln and the Civil War is a well researched, compact history, of Lincoln’s leadership through the United States greatest tragedy.

Michael Burlingame is the holder of the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois-Springfield, and the author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life and The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln.

ISBN 978-0809330539, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2011, Hardcover, 176 pages, End Notes & Index. $19.95

Review: Abraham and Mary Lincoln

Abraham and Mary Lincoln

By Kenneth J. Winkle

In the Springfield, Illinois parlor of Ninian W. & Elizabeth (Todd) Edwards, Abraham Lincoln and Mary Ann Todd were married on Friday evening, November 4, 1842 in a ceremony officiated by the Reverend Charles N. Dresser.  A week later Lincoln wrote to a friend, Samuel D. Marshall, “Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me, is a matter of profound wonder."

The relationship between Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln has been the subject of rumor, speculation and conjecture since they met, and it continues even into the present.  As part of the Concise Lincoln Library author Kenneth J. Winkle adds his name to the ever growing list of those who have written about their relationship with his tiny tome Abraham and Mary Lincoln.

There is no doubt that the Lincoln’s relationship had its stormy and tempestuous times.  What relationship doesn’t?  Mr. Winkle takes a step back from the traditional interpretation of the relationship between Abraham and Mary, and slightly softens it.  Though the “hellcat,” as John Hay frequently referred to Mary Lincoln, does appear from time to time.

The Lincoln’s symbiotic relationship was that of opposites; he the unrefined man from the backwoods and she the genteel aristocrat.  Their backgrounds and personalities complimented the other.  They both saw a future in politics, and both worked in their own way to secure that future.  Together they slowly worked their way up the political ladder from the Illinois Legislature, to the United States House of Representatives, and finally to the Presidency of the United States.  They each played their roles perfectly.

Mr. Winkle’s linear narrative covers the early lives of both Lincolns, their courtship and marriage, and through their years at the White House.  The final chapter of Abraham and Mary Lincoln covers Mary’s life after the assassination of her husband until her death on July 16, 1882.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln doesn’t contain anything new as per the historical record of their relationship, but Mr. Winkle does reinterpret the remaining evidence to draw a new conclusion: the Lincoln home was a house united, though it may have at times trembled in conflict, it was with love and mutual ambition.

ISBN 978-0809330492, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2011, Hardcover, 160 pages, Photographs, Essay on Sources, Bibliography & Index. $19.95

Review: Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley

Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley

by Gregory A. Borchard

In August 1862 there was an amazing exchange of letters between Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, and Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.  These letters were not exchanged through the mail, but rather in the pages of the country’s newspapers.  In an open letter to Lincoln, published under the heading “The Prayer of Twenty Millions,” Greeley demanded that Lincoln ungrudgingly execute the Confiscation Act, thereby giving freedom to the slaves of the Rebels.  A few days later Lincoln famously replied, “ If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”

Greeley is too often pushed aside in many books written about Lincoln, but the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley is a long and complicated one.  Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley, by Gregory A. Borchard, a volume in Southern Illinois University Press’ Concise Lincoln Library, uncovers the tangled history of these two men.

Lincoln and Greeley were more alike than they were different.  Mr. Borchard’s linear narrative traces the parallel lives of these two men; both grew up in poverty, were self-made men, and were ultimately successful in their chosen fields of politics and journalism.  Both men favored the limitation and eventual abolition of slavery. 

Though geographically separated, Greeley & Lincoln’s lives frequently intersected.  Both were members of the Whig party who served together in the House of Representatives during the 30th Congress of the United Sates, and both eventually became Republicans.  Greeley, who broke ranks with his former political allies, Thurlow Weed and William H. Seward, was a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention and supported Lincoln over Seward for the party’s nomination.

Mr. Borchard also traces the divergence of the lives of Lincoln and Greeley once Lincoln became the President.  Often antagonistic, Greeley used the power of his pen to try to goad Lincoln into action, while Lincoln steadfastly led the nation through four years of civil war.

Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley is a well researched book written in an easily read style, and covers the relationship between these two men in a depth not found in other works about Lincoln.

Mr. Borchard, an associate professor of mass communication and journalism in the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is the coauthor of Journalism in the Civil War Era and has published journal articles focusing on the nineteenth-century press.

ISBN 978-0809330454, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2011, Hardcover, 168 pages, End Notes, Selected Bibliography & Index. $19.95

Review: Lincoln and the Election of 1860

Lincoln and the Election of 1860

by Michael S. Green

Abraham Lincoln is among the rarest of historical figures, in that the more you read about him, the more compelling he becomes.  Readers quickly devour the multitude of books published about him every year.

Southern Illinois University Press is bringing together a vast array of Lincoln scholars to elaborate on the life and times of our sixteenth president and his legacy.  The Concise Lincoln Library is a buffet of short, focused books, each concentrating on different areas of Lincoln’s life.

Contributing to the series is Michael S. Green, professor of history at the College of Southern Nevada, who has written Lincoln and the Election of 1860.  Before getting into the meat and potatoes of one America’s most divisive election Mr. Green first serves his first two chapters as appetizers, covering the establishment of America’s political parties, the fall of the Whigs and the rise of the Republican Party.

As a side dish, Mr. Green’s linear narrative deftly covers Lincoln’s early political career before presenting us with the main course, the presidential election of 1860.  He demonstrates Lincoln’s masterful manipulation of back-room machinations of the Republican convention to gain the party’s nomination.  A sauce of Lincoln’s opponents for the office of President of the United States enhances the flavor of the high stakes involved the election.  A discussion of Lincoln’s behind-the-scenes political finesse in the run up to his election as president is the red meat at the center of the meal, though by comparison to the other items accompanying it on the plate it seems a bit small.  A desert of a brief analysis of how and why Lincoln won the election immediately follows.

Lincoln and the Election of 1860 is not a nine course dinner at a four star restaurant, nor was it meant to be.  It is an easily digestible and satisfying lunch at the Bistro on the corner.  It satisfies the apatite, yet leaves you wanting more.  Would I reccomend another trip to the buffet of The Concise Lincoln Library?  Absolutely!

ISBN 978-0809330355, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2011, Hardcover, 152 pages, End Notes & Index. $19.95