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Lincoln's Wrath
New Hardcover with dust jacket
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 18, 2019
Excellent writing on critical history
This is no amateurish work and certainly deserves wider popularity than it has received. Freedom in the abstract is given much lip service. Not so much in the concrete reality such as that represented by the American Stalin.
This is no amateurish work and certainly deserves wider popularity than it has received. Freedom in the abstract is given much lip service. Not so much in the concrete reality such as that represented by the American Stalin.
January 22, 2022
How much freedom should the press have in extreme times? During the American Civil War, this question received two answers in the North: one from violent mobs that attacked and destroyed antiwar newspapers, and one from the Lincoln administration that sought to silence editors considered a threat to the Union cause. In 1863, these twin answers converged in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, where a Democratic antiwar editor sought redress after his office was vandalized by unknown thugs and then confiscated by agents allegedly acting on behalf of the federal government.
The subject is intriguing, especially given that the targets of mob and government violence were typically Southern sympathizers whose views on slavery would be anathema today. The uncomfortable intersection between freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and disturbing speech is still a hot and relevant topic.
However, I didn't find the book all that well written, and I'm not sure the trial at its center is the showcase the authors think it is. The Lincoln administration surely did engage in questionably Constitutional actions throughout the war, but in this case no link was ever established between Philadelphia and the White House. The jury was thus able to sidestep other Constitutional questions and rule solely on the Fourth Amendment merits of a warrantless seizure of property. I think there must be a better-written book somewhere that gets more directly at the key issues of the relationship between government and press in times of crisis.
The subject is intriguing, especially given that the targets of mob and government violence were typically Southern sympathizers whose views on slavery would be anathema today. The uncomfortable intersection between freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and disturbing speech is still a hot and relevant topic.
However, I didn't find the book all that well written, and I'm not sure the trial at its center is the showcase the authors think it is. The Lincoln administration surely did engage in questionably Constitutional actions throughout the war, but in this case no link was ever established between Philadelphia and the White House. The jury was thus able to sidestep other Constitutional questions and rule solely on the Fourth Amendment merits of a warrantless seizure of property. I think there must be a better-written book somewhere that gets more directly at the key issues of the relationship between government and press in times of crisis.
April 7, 2008
This book is about President Abraham Lincoln's other war; the war against those in the North who spoke out against his policy towards the South. To suppress the loyal opposition, Lincoln's administration suspended writ of Habeus Corpus, imprisoned citizens without trial or formal charges, closed down publishing houses and ceased/rigged elections when there was possiblity of Southern sympathy present. Military law was imposed and the Constitution was put on the back burner to "protect" America.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews