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A review by pemuth59
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
5.0
Type the words "Lincoln Biography" in this site's Search box and you'll get 269 results (If you type just "Lincoln," you'll get over 22,000 results). Safe to say a lot of historians have something to say about Honest Abe. Now comes Jon Meacham with the latest word(s) on our 16th president. And it's one of the best yet.
As the subtitle tells us, this book examines the "American Struggle"...the one faced by Lincoln and the country throughout the prelude and fighting of the Civil War. Although Lincoln's life is sketched out in some detail, this is not primarily a biography. And you'll want to look elsewhere for the story of the Civil War on the battlefield. Instead, Meacham highlights the violent religious and moral struggle over slavery that surrounded Lincoln and divided an angry country in the 1850s and 1860s. This focus on universal issues does a great job of putting you in Lincoln's (extremely large) shoes and he suffers the slings and arrows of that terrible time.
Meacham is a wondeful storyteller who combines fascinating detail (many new to this Lincoln buff) with a close examination of the painful national debate. Some of the issues might seem familiar. For instance, there was a great deal of pressure on Vice President John Breckinridge to nullify the Electoral College results when the time came to certify Lincoln's 1860 election win. And troops were massed at the Capitol expecting a violent disruption of Lincoln's inauguration. To his credit, Meacham draws no direct comparisons but the facts are made plain.
Even if you're one of those folks who think they just can't handle an0ther Lincoln book, this is an important, insightful and terrific read!
As the subtitle tells us, this book examines the "American Struggle"...the one faced by Lincoln and the country throughout the prelude and fighting of the Civil War. Although Lincoln's life is sketched out in some detail, this is not primarily a biography. And you'll want to look elsewhere for the story of the Civil War on the battlefield. Instead, Meacham highlights the violent religious and moral struggle over slavery that surrounded Lincoln and divided an angry country in the 1850s and 1860s. This focus on universal issues does a great job of putting you in Lincoln's (extremely large) shoes and he suffers the slings and arrows of that terrible time.
Meacham is a wondeful storyteller who combines fascinating detail (many new to this Lincoln buff) with a close examination of the painful national debate. Some of the issues might seem familiar. For instance, there was a great deal of pressure on Vice President John Breckinridge to nullify the Electoral College results when the time came to certify Lincoln's 1860 election win. And troops were massed at the Capitol expecting a violent disruption of Lincoln's inauguration. To his credit, Meacham draws no direct comparisons but the facts are made plain.
Even if you're one of those folks who think they just can't handle an0ther Lincoln book, this is an important, insightful and terrific read!