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8 Jan 2021 12:08:01 UTC
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Author: Eric Foner
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Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in History, the Bancroft Prize, and the Lincoln Prize from a master historian, the story of Lincolnsand the nationstransformation through the crucible of slavery and emancipation.In this landmark work of deep scholarship and insight, Eric Foner gives us the definitive history of Lincoln and the end of slavery in America. Foner begins with Lincolns youth in Indiana and Illinois and follows the trajectory of his career across an increasingly tense and shifting political terrain from Illinois to Washington, D.C. Although naturally anti-slavery for as long as he can remember, Lincoln scrupulously holds to the position that the Constitution protects the institution in the original slave states. But the political landscape is transformed in 1854 when the Kansas-Nebraska Act makes the expansion of slavery a national issue. A man of considered words and deliberate actions, Lincoln navigates the dynamic politics deftly, taking measured steps, often along a path forged by abolitionists and radicals in his party. Lincoln rises to leadership in the new Republican Party by calibrating his politics to the broadest possible antislavery coalition. As president of a divided nation and commander in chief at war, displaying a similar compound of pragmatism and principle, Lincoln finally embraces what he calls the Civil Wars fundamental and astounding result the immediate, uncompensated abolition of slavery and recognition of blacks as American citizens. Foners Lincoln emerges as a leader, one whose greatness lies in his capacity for moral and political growth through real engagement with allies and critics alike. This powerful work will transform our understanding of the nations greatest president and the issue that mattered most. 16 pages black-and-white illustrations and 3 mapsFrom Publishers WeeklyA mixture of visionary progressivism and repugnant racism, Abraham Lincolns attitude toward slavery is the most troubling aspect of his public life, one that gets a probing assessment in this study. Columbia historian and Bancroft Prize winner Foner (Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men) traces the complexities of Lincolns evolving ideas about slavery and African-Americans while he detested slavery, he also publicly rejected political and social equality for blacks, dragged his feet (critics charged) on emancipating slaves and accepting black recruits into the Union army, and floated schemes for colonizing freedmen overseas almost to wars end. Foner situates this record within a lucid, nuanced discussion of the eras turbulent racial politics in his account Lincoln is a canny operator, cautiously navigating the racist attitudes of Northern whites, prodded--and sometimes willing to be prodded--by abolitionists and racial egalitarians pressing faster reforms. But as Foner tells it, Lincoln also embodies a society-wide transformation in consciousness, as the wars upheavals and the dynamic new roles played by African-Americans made previously unthinkable claims of freedom and equality seem inevitable. Lincoln is no paragon in Foners searching portrait, but something more essential--a politician with an open mind and a restless conscience. 16 pages of illus., 3 maps. Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. ReviewStarred Review. Original and compelling.In the vast library on Lincoln, Foners book stands out as the most sensible and sensitive reading of Lincolns lifetime involvement with slavery and the most insightful assessment of Lincolnsand indeed Americasimperative to move toward freedom lest it be lost. An essential work for all Americans. (Library Journal )Do we need yet another book on Lincoln?... Well, yes, we doif the book is by so richly informed a commentator as Eric Foner. Foner tackles what would seem to be an obvious topic, Lincoln and slavery, and manages to cast new light on it.... Because of his broad-ranging knowledge of the 19th century, Foner is able to provide the most thorough and judicious account of Lincolns attitudes toward slavery that we have. (David S. Reynolds - *The New York Times Book Review* )A well orchestrated examination of Lincolns changing views of slavery, bringing unforeseeable twists and a fresh sense of improbability to a familiar story. (The 2011 Pulitzer Prize Committee )While many thousands of books deal with Lincoln and slavery, Eric Foner has written the definitive account of this crucial subject, illuminating in a highly original and profound way the interactions of race, slavery, public opinion, politics, and Lincolns own character that led to the wholly improbable uncompensated emancipation of some four million slaves. Even seasoned historians will acquire fresh and new perspectives from reading The Fiery Trial. (David Brion Davis, author of *Inhuman Bondage The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World* )
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