Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World

by Eric Foner (editor)

Our best historians offer fresh insights on Abraham Lincoln and his time to mark the upcoming bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. In 1876 the abolitionist Frederick Douglass observed, "No man can say anything that is new of Abraham Lincoln." Undeterred, the contributors to Our Lincoln believe it is possible even now, especially if the starting point is the interaction between the life and the times. Several of these original essays focus on Lincoln's leadership as president and commander in chief. James M. McPherson examines Lincoln's deft navigation of the crosscurrents of politics and wartime strategy. Sean Wilentz assesses Lincoln's evolving position in the context of party politics. On slavery and race, Eric Foner writes of Lincoln and the movement to colonize emancipated slaves outside the United States. James Oakes considers Lincoln's views on race and citizenship. There are also brilliant essays on Lincoln's literary style, religious beliefs, and family life. The Lincoln who emerges is a man of his time, yet able to transcend and transform it―a reasonable measure of greatness. 10 illustrations

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, Essays, Civil War, Presidents

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2008

About the author

Eric Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, where he earned his B.A. and Ph.D. In his teaching and scholarship, Foner focuses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery, and nineteenth-century America. His Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877, won the Bancroft, Parkman, and Los Angeles Times Book prizes and remains the standard history of the period. His latest book published in 2010 is The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.

In 2006 Foner received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching at Columbia University. He has served as president of the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Society of American Historians.

Reviews

[robin friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid Recent Scholarship On Lincoln

Our sixteenth president remains unique in his continued ability to inspire study and reflection among a broad group of Americans beyond the class of professional historians. For example, living in the Washington, D.C. area, I am fortunate to have access to the programs of the Abraham Lincoln Institute, a scholarly organization which aptly describes itself as presenting "The Latest in Lincoln Scholarship" to a broad audience. Every year, the Institute hosts a day-long Symposium in which Lincoln scholars share their research and thoughts about Lincoln with an audience consisting of people from all backgrounds, walks of life, and parts of the United States. (Typically, the Seminar also includes a delicious free lunch.) It is a day I look forward to every year.

I was reminded of the Lincoln Symposium and its approach by "Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and his World" (2008) edited by Eric Foner. The book consists of eleven new essays written by distinguished scholars on various aspects of Lincoln's life, achievement, and legacy. Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University. He is best-known for his study "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution", a book which markedly changed Americans's understanding of the difficult Reconstruction Era. The contibutors to the volume include James McPherson, Mark Neely, Sean Wilentz, Harolds Holzer, James Oakes, Eric Foner, Manisha Sinha, Andrew Delbanco, Richard Carwardine, Catherine Clinton, and David Blight.

The essays are divided into four parts, including four essays on Lincoln as President, three essays on Lincoln as Emancipator, three essays on Lincoln the Man, and a conluding essay by David Blight on Lincoln in current politics and public memory. If there is a singly theme connecting the essays it is that of change and growth. Several of the essays show how Lincoln ideas and programs evolved during his life and during his presidency as circumstances changed and he grew wiser.

James McPhersons's essay "A. Lincoln, Commander in Chief" is the only one in the volume with a predominantly military focus. It shows in its brief scope how Lincoln developed as a military leader during the Civil War.

Mark Neely's essay "The Constitution and Civil Liberties under Lincoln" stresses change as well. Neely shows how Lincoln changed from repressive activities towards civil liberties in the early and middle parts of the war to a much more open stance as he moved late in the conflict, against the advice of his generals, to end martial law in Missouri.

The three essays on Lincoln as Emancipator form a valuable triolgy, not least because the authors do not share the same perspectives. James Oakes takes a close look at a complex subject: Lincoln's attitudes towards slavery and towards race, in a careful essay which differentiates various forms of "rights", including natural rights, citizenship rights, states's rights and black rights, and showing how Lincoln's attitides developed towards each. Eric Foner's own essay "Lincoln and Colonization" examines the extent of Lincoln's support for the movement to colonize American blacks in Africa or in Central America. Many Americans remain unfamiliar with this aspect of Lincoln. Lincoln supported the colonization movement, to a greater or lesser degree, at least through the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Manisha Sinha's essay, "Allies for Emancipation"? examines Lincoln's changing attitudes towards emancipation by comparing them with the program of African American abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass. She argues that Lincoln became close to these Abolitionists as the war proceeded.

Additional essays with the broad theme of change include Richard Carwardine's study of Lincoln's changing attitude towards religion from the free-thinking of his youth to the apparent belief in divine providence (but not in any traditional religious denomination or creed) late in his life. Catherine Clinton's essay "Abraham Lincoln: The Family that Made him, the Family he Made" examines Lincoln's early years and his marriage. Both these subjects are enshrouded in controversy. Clinton argues that Lincoln moved from his frontier roots and his awkwardness with women in his early years to enjoy a modern and essentially happy form of companionate marriage with Mary Todd Lincoln.

Of the articles which I haven't mentioned above, Andrew Delblanco's "Lincoln's Sacramental Language" is particularly valuable for its study of the literary quality of Lincoln's speeches and writings.

In general, the essays in this book synthesize and explain recent thinking about Lincoln rather than striking out in new directions. They will be of greatest value to the serious lay reader who wants to reflect on Lincoln's accomplishments and continued importance.

Robin Friedman

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our Lincoln is a collection of eleven essays on various aspects of Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Each work highlights new insights into the man known as The Great Emancipator. Topics include Lincoln's rhetoric and literary style, his thoughts on religion, how his family helped shape him, and his role as Commander in Chief of the Union army. The book covers four specific aspects of Lincoln's life: The President, The Emancipator, The Man, and Politics and Memory. Each essay is written by well known Civil War historians including Eric Foner, James McPherson, David Blight, Catherine Clinton, and Mark E. Neely, Jr.

This is a well-written collection that is very interesting and thought-provoking.

[Michael VanZandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a long time coming. Finally, finished it. That's more of a statement on the disparity of some of these articles. I attended the Lincoln Symposium at Columbia University in November, so I definitely have my favorites. There is some very interesting, original scholarship provided here. Harold Holzer continues to amaze me with his passion and work ethic. I found an appreciation for Manisha Singh's work; she is a professor at UMass, and her studies have a lot of common interest with my own. Some of these are clunkers, bogged down with prosaic minutiae. You get that more often than not from a collection of essays.

[Karen]

I'm setting this book aside for a bit. I've been having trouble getting into it. Other books are absconding with my interest.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays with some insightful views along with some not so subtle partisan efforts to claim ground on who does or does not "own" Lincoln. This book was worth pausing to think about at its best and worth skimming at its worst.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2008 by W.W. Norton and Company.

This series of essays was most likely compiled to be the text for college-level classes by Eric Foner, a historian well-known for his expertise on the Civil War, the Underground Railroad, American Slavery and Reconstruction. Lincoln, of course, sits astride all of these issues.

There are 11 essays covering four broad topics:

-Lincoln as "The President", looking at such things as how he acted as commander-in-chief and how Lincoln protected (and failed to protect) civil rights during the war.


Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

-Lincoln as "The Emancipator", focusing on his view of slavery, citizenship for African Americans, his zeal for colonizing freed slaves and his hot and cold relationship with abolitionists.

-Lincoln "The Man" with essays about his writing style (and how it changed as the war went on), his views on religion (and how it also may have changed as the war went on) and his family life (his birth family and his married life).

-Lincoln in "Politics and Memory". This is the shortest section and the most politically charged. The author's comments on the Bush administration only make me wonder what he would have said about the Trump administration.

On the whole, this was a solid collection, but like all collections, not all of the items in the collection are equal. One essay was about Lincoln's control of how his physical image was shared through paintings, sculpture and photographs and I found it to be so tedious that I started skimming it and finally just skipped to the next essay. The three essays on the Lincoln as The Emancipator were all excellent, but they also had a lot of overlap.

I rate this collection 4 stars out of 5.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good set of essays overall. The two best are by Mark Neely on civil liberties and Blight on attempts to appropriate Lincoln.

Without going Tom DiLorenzo, Neely does do a callout on the mass of his fellow mainstream academic historians for not casting a more critical eye on Lincoln and civil liberties. While his ultimate focus is the Corning letter, which he explicates masterfully (read this essay and you'll see the letter as the single biggest presidential cudgel against the First Amendment between John Adams' enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Acts and Woodrow Wilson's WWI actions), he starts with Merryman and faults both Taney and Lincoln for extra-constitutional overreach.

David Blight's final essay focuses most on today's GOP from Reagan on, and its attempts to reshape Lincoln as a modern small-government quasi-libertarian, while also trying to appeal to modern blacks to come back to the party of Lincoln.

The problem, of course is that Lincoln and his Civil War Republicans gave subsidies to transcontinental railroads (well, today's GOP might be OK with that), established and funded our land-grant colleges, passed the first income tax, passed the first national (fiat) currency, strengthened the federal banking and banking regulatory system and more.

But, while the most egregious misappropriation of Lincoln, it's not the only one. Blight says his Lincoln is that of W.E.B. Du Bois: "I love him, not because he was perfect, but because he was not and yet triumphed. ... The world is full of folk whose taste was educated in the gutter. ... To those I love to say: See this man. He was one of you and yet became Abraham Lincoln."

Du Bois also notes the paradox at the heart of Lincoln and says: "He was a man — a big, inconsistent, brave man."

Enough said. And, per Du Bois, and a couple of other essayists? While Lincoln did "grow" throughout the Civil War, he didn't grow evenly. We shouldn't fetishize this, unlike Spielberg's movie. Nor should we think that he ever would have fully abandoned his rose-colored glasses on things like the existence of Southern Unionists and the possible ease of Reconstruction.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have ​read and appreciated Eric Foner's other books ​o​n the birth of the Republican party, Reconstruction, and the Underground RR​. Thus,​ I read Our Lincoln hoping it would be of the same high quality as I found these ​three ​others of his to be.

As with any collection of pieces the chapters in this book are of variable quality. Some are quite informative: McPherson on Lincoln as Commander in Chief, Foner on the evolution of Lincoln's views of colonization,Wilentz on Lincoln and Jacksonian democracy, Oakes on Lincoln and citizens' rights and race, and Cardwardine on Lincoln's religiosity. This is because they covered topics I knew little about before​ in a concise and highly readable way​.

Other chapters, however, are less so: Sinha ​on the role that Black Abolitionists played in changing Lincoln's views, Holzer on ​visualizing ​Lincoln, ​Neely on Lincoln and civil liberties, ​Clinton's on Lincoln's family life, ​and Blight on Lincoln in the public memory​. Some of what I perceived as the less useful chapters suffered from being redundant to what came before them in the book. Perhaps this was because Foner did not feel that he could exercise much editorial authority with his colleagues. Other​s of these ​chapters were largely a rehash of information I had garnered from having read other books on Lincoln over the last 10+ years. And others simply did not interest me very much.

Bottom line: I recommend this book for those whose knowledge of Lincoln is somewhat limited. They will probably find it quite informative. For those, like me, who have already read 8-10 books on various aspects of Lincoln's life and career and other books on Abolitionism, Frederick Douglass, etc I would caution them in two ways. First, do not have the same high expectations you might have based on Foner's other work. Second, be ​selective about which chapters​ you​ read. Otherwise, ​you​ will end up being disappointed.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compilation of essays on our 16th chief executive. Largely informative, however tedious at times. Attribute that to adapting to the different writing styles of the authors. Very informative in terms of fleshing out Lincoln's ideas, especially on religion or its lack thereof.

Catherine Clinton's essay on Lincoln and family is captivating and provides a great background for the new Lincoln reader. In contrast David Blight's essay on the "theft" of Lincoln is yet another liberal diatribe on why conservatism is evil and should be given no weight in society, all the while championing his own far-left political beliefs as being the ONLY possible outcome.

[RK Byers · Rating 4 out of 5]

despite this book’s title and a lot of really fine writing, no one seems to have a firmly concrete grasp on the subject - and that may be the point.

[Jeremy Canipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World brings together essays on Abraham Lincoln from a wide range of historians and other scholars. This book covers ground perhaps partly known to historians but does add useful insights and perspectives.

Editor Eric Foner considers Lincoln's ongoing support of efforts to couple an end to slavery with the movements to colonize formerly enslaved African-Americans outside the United States. James Oakes considers Lincoln's changing views on African Americans. These two essays should be considered together, along with Sean Wilentz's articles on Lincoln's relationship to Jeffersonian and Jacksonian politics.

Other essays cover issues such as Lincoln's changing religious beliefs, the suppression of civil liberties during the Civil War, Lincoln's relationship to his birth family and his family with Mary Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's literary style, and his cultivation of a public image through sitting for photographers and sculptors.

[Cory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always had that mild admiration for Lincoln that one out of every third American has. But overall this book was rough reading for me. Perhaps that’s just me. Perhaps it’s just the writers. My only real complaint with the book was the occasional smugness found in the final essay. The author of That particular piece was David Blight, Who wrote a very well received biography of Frederick Douglass that I have been meaning to read. He raised many good points and about the “historical theft” of Abraham Lincoln but he definitely had some bones to pick With the Republican Party. To Be fair who doesn’t these days? But that tone of writing Really does grind my gears and sends a message of self importance to the reader regardless of the author’s intentions. All of which could have been reduced or removed by listing Lincoln thefts by the political left, the public, and other political groups outside the usual suspects.

3/5 stars

[Sarah Riddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these essays are really great, and some are less interesting.

[Evan Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splendid

[David Lucander · Rating 3 out of 5]

An all-star team of scholars like this one couldn't possibly put together a bad book on Lincoln. All but the most quirky of Lincoln fans will find at least one of these essays boring or uninteresting, but that's because such a broad array of topics are covered. For me, highlights were the pieces by Blight, Delbanco, and Sinha. Also worth noting that three of this book's contributors (Foner, Oakes, and Sinha) appeared on the Jon Stewart Show together. Maybe it's because I've been busy or because the text is so densely written, but it took me unusually long to get through.

[Jes. Cavanaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up, but it's proving to be very enlightening and a very friendly read. I find that a lot of biographies tend to be pretentious or false, but each essay in this book takes a look at Lincoln in relation to a specific topic or issue of his time. It makes it a lot easier to get a broader picture of who the man was and what makes him such a prominent and important figure in American history.

[Sparrow .]

Lincoln seems like a beautiful Jewish candy store owner, from Flatbush, in this fine compendium.

[Justin Banger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am really only interested in a few essays in this book.

[Dane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of essays, but don't know if they'll hold up.

[Mark Cheathem]

Enjoyable and informative. If you doesn't know a lot about Lincoln, start with Catherine Clinton's essay, then move to Chapter 1.