false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171921202m/126711.jpg 126711 9 In the tradition of Garry Wills's modern classic <I>Lincoln at Gettysburg</I>, Ronald C. White Jr. offers a close reading of the speech Abraham Lincoln gave in 1865 at his second inauguration and declares it the man's finest and most important effort. It contains one of Lincoln's best-known lines ("With malice toward none; with charity for all"), which White admires as "a timeless promise of reconciliation." At the same time, White reminds readers that rather than yanking such brilliant rhetorical nuggets from their context, "We need to understand Lincoln's strategy for the complete speech." He provides this in some detail, describing the political environment in which Lincoln found himself, having recently won a presidential election that he nearly lost and also seeing the Confederacy begin to collapse for good. It was not a long speech, containing only 701 words of mostly one syllable each and requiring merely six or seven minutes to deliver, compared to about 35 minutes for the inaugural address he had given four years earlier. White calls these words Lincoln's "last will and testament to America." John Wilkes Booth, who attended the inaugural ceremony, would murder him the next month. Lincoln buffs in particular will appreciate this book, as will fans of Jay Winik's <I>April 1865</I>. <I>--John Miller</I> 1373330 2002 Lincoln's Greatest Speech : The Second Inaugural total:49|5:14|4:26|3:7|2:2|1:0| 49 199 81 11 5 1 false false Sun May 24 17:28:43 -0700 2009 Sun May 24 17:35:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sun Mar 01 10:38:43 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 10:39:33 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 09:05:28 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 09:13:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Mar 13 09:18:21 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 09:19:42 -0700 2009 5 0 true false Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 18:05:54 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 17:35:15 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Mar 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Feb 01 14:29:28 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 12 10:48:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 20 22:26:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 06 11:47:29 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Feb 26 09:03:09 -0800 2009 Sun Aug 30 16:48:48 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Aug 06 04:24:24 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 26 18:42:52 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 06 04:24:24 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Feb 19 13:40:10 -0800 2007 Mon Mar 19 17:40:17 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Sat Apr 05 14:46:25 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 05 14:46:52 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 23 08:46:45 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 23 08:47:02 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Nov 19 16:46:34 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 16:46:34 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Nov 13 05:35:53 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 13 05:35:53 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 04 07:36:51 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 07:36:51 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 18 21:31:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 21:31:05 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Sep 07 21:26:09 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 21:26:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 03 23:20:20 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 23:20:20 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 02 08:22:16 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 08:22:16 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 17:32:22 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 18:57:37 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=126711