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His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation
An expert analysis of Abraham Lincoln's three most powerful speeches reveals his rhetorical genius and his thoughts on our national character.
Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president, believed that our national character was defined by three key the writing of the Constitution, our declaration of independence from England, and the beginning of slavery on the North American continent. His thoughts on these landmarks can be traced through three the Lyceum Address, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural. The latter two are well-known, enshrined forever on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial. The former is much less familiar to most, written a quarter century before his presidency, when he was a 28 year-old Illinois state legislator.
In His Greatest Speeches , Professor Diana Schaub offers a brilliant line-by-line analysis of these timeless works, placing them in historical context and explaining the brilliance behind their rhetoric. The result is a complete vision of Lincoln’s worldview that is sure to fascinate and inspire general readers and history buffs alike. This book is a wholly original resource for considering the difficult questions of American purpose and identity, questions that are no less contentious or essential today than they were a century and a half ago.
Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president, believed that our national character was defined by three key the writing of the Constitution, our declaration of independence from England, and the beginning of slavery on the North American continent. His thoughts on these landmarks can be traced through three the Lyceum Address, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural. The latter two are well-known, enshrined forever on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial. The former is much less familiar to most, written a quarter century before his presidency, when he was a 28 year-old Illinois state legislator.
In His Greatest Speeches , Professor Diana Schaub offers a brilliant line-by-line analysis of these timeless works, placing them in historical context and explaining the brilliance behind their rhetoric. The result is a complete vision of Lincoln’s worldview that is sure to fascinate and inspire general readers and history buffs alike. This book is a wholly original resource for considering the difficult questions of American purpose and identity, questions that are no less contentious or essential today than they were a century and a half ago.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published November 23, 2021
29 people are currently reading
2875 people want to read
About the author
Diana Schaub
9 books27 followersDiana Schaub is Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Maryland and a Visiting Scholar at AEI. She was a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2004-2009. A recipient of the Richard M. Weaver Prize for Scholarly Letters, she is the author of Erotic Liberalism, contributing editor of The New Atlantis, and part of the National Affairs publication committee. She has written for The Claremont Review of Books, City Journal, The New Criterion, and Commentary, among others.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 6, 2022
This is an excellent literary analysis of three of Lincoln’s most famous speeches. Studying him and his works is a master class in oratory skills. The author is thorough and gives the reader a vast amount of knowledge with which to further appreciate and understand the speeches.
This unbiased review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
This unbiased review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
March 6, 2022
This book, although it is rather brief, was one that tested my resolve. Rather than simply discuss the speeches and then the impact derived from each, it goes into a dialogue of the very specific syntax that Lincoln used.
Now, we all know that Abraham Lincoln was certainly one of the finest wordsmiths, but the author draws conclusions as if he labored over EVERY SINGLE WORD. She draws out levels of reasoning that cannot be verified or corroborated with any concrete fact as to "what Lincoln meant when he wrote this.." She takes an 0ver-the-top scholarly viewpoint and puts it in print. Frankly, this isn't even history, it is more like a writing symposium she is running on literary techniques to elicit certain responses.
There has been a tremendous amount of words written about Lincoln's words over the past 157 years since his death. He has delivered some fantastic addresses. He also is well noted for his intricate prose and how he articulates his points. So, yes, perhaps a diction-based review of every sentence merits attention. However, I'd rather not read that type of book. I'm not planning anytime soon to be a speech writer, or to be the one who delivers these words.
Oh, and besides, what about the Cooper Union speech? The House Divided speech in 1858 debating with Stephen Douglas? His Peoria speech about the Kansas-Nebraska Act? And, we all could go on.
Glad this one is done with.
Now, we all know that Abraham Lincoln was certainly one of the finest wordsmiths, but the author draws conclusions as if he labored over EVERY SINGLE WORD. She draws out levels of reasoning that cannot be verified or corroborated with any concrete fact as to "what Lincoln meant when he wrote this.." She takes an 0ver-the-top scholarly viewpoint and puts it in print. Frankly, this isn't even history, it is more like a writing symposium she is running on literary techniques to elicit certain responses.
There has been a tremendous amount of words written about Lincoln's words over the past 157 years since his death. He has delivered some fantastic addresses. He also is well noted for his intricate prose and how he articulates his points. So, yes, perhaps a diction-based review of every sentence merits attention. However, I'd rather not read that type of book. I'm not planning anytime soon to be a speech writer, or to be the one who delivers these words.
Oh, and besides, what about the Cooper Union speech? The House Divided speech in 1858 debating with Stephen Douglas? His Peoria speech about the Kansas-Nebraska Act? And, we all could go on.
Glad this one is done with.
December 6, 2021
Partly a historical monograph, partly a literary analysis, Dr. Schaub's "His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation" is a succinct yet scholarly approach to three of Lincoln's best speeches: "The Gettysburg Address," which is probably read by most American schoolchildren and stands as one of the U.S.'s foundational documents; "Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address," in which he seeks to unify the nation as the Civil War comes a close; and "The Lyceum Address," one of Lincoln's earliest political speeches. I found the book both accessible to the general reader and nerdy enough to satisfy the history teacher in me.
Loved it!
Loved it!
November 26, 2022
Review title: Lincoln's wisdom in three short speeches
No matter how many times I have read books about Lincoln, his life, his leadership, and his political career, I am always astounded at the knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom of this self-educated man, and his ability to use everyday yet complex language to speak to listeners, readers, voters, and citizens, then and now. I have said in the past that wisdom should be a qualification for voting in the United States, without being able to define the content of wisdom. Here is a reasonable outline, as Diana Schaub analyzes the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural, and the Lyceum Address of 1838. Her analysis of Lincoln's genius shines light on his wisdom.
How did Lincoln achieve his result?:
He took a long view of time.. The most famous formulation comes from the Gettysburg Address, the "four score and seven" years of the American experiment borrowed from the Psalms "threescore and ten" of the typical human lifespan. "The nation, at four score and seven, is now just beyond the furthest term of an individual life. Moreover, as the audience well knows, and Lincoln soon acknowledges, the nation is engaged in a terrible civil war--a war that might cause the nation to perish. " (p. 70)
While understanding and helping us understand the risk of America surviving beyond this time span, Lincoln uses what Schaub calls the" doubleness" of time. In this "dual perspective" Lincoln sets the human calendar which put him in the 19th century against the "order of nature, 'under the sun' " (p. 12). On the human calendar, man--Lincoln--must act. In the long term, man may propose, God will dispose. In the Second Inaugural, Lincoln joins the events of the preceding four years to the American founding in 1787 to the beginning of "American Slavery" (Lincoln's term) in 1619 (Schaub calls this speech "the original and better 1619 Project", p. 110) back to "God himself [as] the vindicator and upholder of these principles of right" (p. 155) needed to restore America as a union and an idea.
He took God seriously, in spite or because of his ambivalent adoption of any specific doctrinal or denominational creed.. His actions and his policies, as in the section of the Second Inaugural just referenced, demonstrated his belief in God better than the loud declarations of faith on the part of others. As Schaub writes, "Lincoln had more command of Scripture than any elected American leader before or since." (p. 50) Lincoln's "somber thought" at the end of the Second Inaugural is that a just God may require a great payment for the "spilled blood and stolen wealth" (p. 151) of 250 years of enslaved people beyond the hoped-for end of the civil war and the hoped-for restoration afterward. History has proved him right. Yet, he concluded his Lyceum Address by comparing the durability of America to "the only greater institution" (p. 181), the church established by Jesus through Peter, quoting Jesus from Matthew 16:18: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. " (p. 57)
He took America, as an idea based on the Declaration and as a government based on the Constitution, seriously. . Precisely because he took God so seriously, Lincoln in the 1865 Second Inaugural did not assume" the usual triumphalist move" that "God is on the Union side." (p. 141); he knew that "already southern theologians were explaining the Confederate loss as providential in the sense that God often tests his chosen people." (p. 157). Lincoln knew that the American government, if it were to survive this test, would require the American people to dedicate themselves "to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced." (from the Gettysburg Address, p. 183)
Maturation in self-government, says Lincoln in the Lyceum Address, requires "general intelligence, sound morality and, in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws. " (p. 54). Reverence arises from and is demonstrated by knowledge of our history, constitution, and laws. In his greatest and shortest speech, the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln assumes a great level of knowledge, by referring to "a great battlefield" (no mention of Gettysburg) on "this continent" (no mention of North America), "a new nation" (no mention of the United States), "a great civil war (not North or South, Union or Confederate), and "our fathers" (without naming them). Even the "four score and seven" reference requires knowledge of the date of the speech to connect back to 1776 (p. 66)
Lincoln refused to excuse ignorance or error. He held firmly to the idea of equality stated in the Declaration, refusing to accept southerners' "calling equality 'a self-evident lie' and slavery 'a positive good.' (p. 81). He concludes Gettysburg with the proposition that "this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. " (p. 183), but as the qualifying clause "under God" demonstrates, he grounds that statement of American exceptionalism on humility, not hubris (p. 83). He concludes the Inaugural by calling for us to "cherish a just, and a lasting peace" (p. 186).Schaub calls cherish an "oddly intimate word" (p. 166) in the context, linking "the maintenance or perpetuation of our political institutions to reverence, the idea here is that the maintenance or lastingness of peace depends on holding it dear.". Lincoln does, and expects as much from us. It is a sobering commitment.
He put himself in the background to an extent never equalled by any American political leader. His use of pronouns, syntax, and grammar engages us in his subject and his arguments without making himself the source, the center, or the fulcrum of the solution. He instead explains what needs to be done, by whom, how, and why. The pronoun "I" is not used once in the Gettysburg Address (p. 61; see Schaub's table and analysis of the subject of the address's ten sentences on p. 88-91), and his use of "we" is not the "royal we" of so many politicians but the humble we by which Lincoln makes himself one of us and expects as much from himself as from us all. "Those who gave their lives for the life of the nation share this ground together, and we, by honoring them, are bound together with them. We are all together." (p. 90)
This is a short, accessible, yet learned study of these three great speeches. It shines the bright light of understanding and discovery on the wisdom so skillfully crafted into these few words that still speak to us nearly 200 years later. Understanding for us as American citizens is the beginning of wisdom, the wisdom we need to cherish to ensure our new birth of freedom shall not perish from the earth.
No matter how many times I have read books about Lincoln, his life, his leadership, and his political career, I am always astounded at the knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom of this self-educated man, and his ability to use everyday yet complex language to speak to listeners, readers, voters, and citizens, then and now. I have said in the past that wisdom should be a qualification for voting in the United States, without being able to define the content of wisdom. Here is a reasonable outline, as Diana Schaub analyzes the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural, and the Lyceum Address of 1838. Her analysis of Lincoln's genius shines light on his wisdom.
How did Lincoln achieve his result?:
He rarely quoted or made any direct application of his sources; instead, he made the insights and phraseology his own to such an extent that he could refigure and transpose them, like a musician whose innumerable borrowings and variations are bodied forth in new and unexpected forms. Through the compressive power of his mind, Lincoln metamorphizes his sources. (p. 9)
He took a long view of time.. The most famous formulation comes from the Gettysburg Address, the "four score and seven" years of the American experiment borrowed from the Psalms "threescore and ten" of the typical human lifespan. "The nation, at four score and seven, is now just beyond the furthest term of an individual life. Moreover, as the audience well knows, and Lincoln soon acknowledges, the nation is engaged in a terrible civil war--a war that might cause the nation to perish. " (p. 70)
While understanding and helping us understand the risk of America surviving beyond this time span, Lincoln uses what Schaub calls the" doubleness" of time. In this "dual perspective" Lincoln sets the human calendar which put him in the 19th century against the "order of nature, 'under the sun' " (p. 12). On the human calendar, man--Lincoln--must act. In the long term, man may propose, God will dispose. In the Second Inaugural, Lincoln joins the events of the preceding four years to the American founding in 1787 to the beginning of "American Slavery" (Lincoln's term) in 1619 (Schaub calls this speech "the original and better 1619 Project", p. 110) back to "God himself [as] the vindicator and upholder of these principles of right" (p. 155) needed to restore America as a union and an idea.
He took God seriously, in spite or because of his ambivalent adoption of any specific doctrinal or denominational creed.. His actions and his policies, as in the section of the Second Inaugural just referenced, demonstrated his belief in God better than the loud declarations of faith on the part of others. As Schaub writes, "Lincoln had more command of Scripture than any elected American leader before or since." (p. 50) Lincoln's "somber thought" at the end of the Second Inaugural is that a just God may require a great payment for the "spilled blood and stolen wealth" (p. 151) of 250 years of enslaved people beyond the hoped-for end of the civil war and the hoped-for restoration afterward. History has proved him right. Yet, he concluded his Lyceum Address by comparing the durability of America to "the only greater institution" (p. 181), the church established by Jesus through Peter, quoting Jesus from Matthew 16:18: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. " (p. 57)
He took America, as an idea based on the Declaration and as a government based on the Constitution, seriously. . Precisely because he took God so seriously, Lincoln in the 1865 Second Inaugural did not assume" the usual triumphalist move" that "God is on the Union side." (p. 141); he knew that "already southern theologians were explaining the Confederate loss as providential in the sense that God often tests his chosen people." (p. 157). Lincoln knew that the American government, if it were to survive this test, would require the American people to dedicate themselves "to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced." (from the Gettysburg Address, p. 183)
It’s important for us to remember that the freedom Lincoln heralds is an infant freedom, in need of further maturation. In part, this means freedom will grow and spread as it did with the adoption of the 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments. But maturation also means the acquisition of moral and intellectual virtue through the disciplines of habit and study. As a nation, we have done better in extending freedom than in educating for it. In any case, as Lincoln foresees, there will always be plenty for future generations to do. This may be one of the reasons the Gettysburg Address is so beloved. It rallies us today just as it rallied the nation then. (p. 107-108)
Maturation in self-government, says Lincoln in the Lyceum Address, requires "general intelligence, sound morality and, in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws. " (p. 54). Reverence arises from and is demonstrated by knowledge of our history, constitution, and laws. In his greatest and shortest speech, the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln assumes a great level of knowledge, by referring to "a great battlefield" (no mention of Gettysburg) on "this continent" (no mention of North America), "a new nation" (no mention of the United States), "a great civil war (not North or South, Union or Confederate), and "our fathers" (without naming them). Even the "four score and seven" reference requires knowledge of the date of the speech to connect back to 1776 (p. 66)
Lincoln refused to excuse ignorance or error. He held firmly to the idea of equality stated in the Declaration, refusing to accept southerners' "calling equality 'a self-evident lie' and slavery 'a positive good.' (p. 81). He concludes Gettysburg with the proposition that "this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. " (p. 183), but as the qualifying clause "under God" demonstrates, he grounds that statement of American exceptionalism on humility, not hubris (p. 83). He concludes the Inaugural by calling for us to "cherish a just, and a lasting peace" (p. 186).Schaub calls cherish an "oddly intimate word" (p. 166) in the context, linking "the maintenance or perpetuation of our political institutions to reverence, the idea here is that the maintenance or lastingness of peace depends on holding it dear.". Lincoln does, and expects as much from us. It is a sobering commitment.
He put himself in the background to an extent never equalled by any American political leader. His use of pronouns, syntax, and grammar engages us in his subject and his arguments without making himself the source, the center, or the fulcrum of the solution. He instead explains what needs to be done, by whom, how, and why. The pronoun "I" is not used once in the Gettysburg Address (p. 61; see Schaub's table and analysis of the subject of the address's ten sentences on p. 88-91), and his use of "we" is not the "royal we" of so many politicians but the humble we by which Lincoln makes himself one of us and expects as much from himself as from us all. "Those who gave their lives for the life of the nation share this ground together, and we, by honoring them, are bound together with them. We are all together." (p. 90)
This is a short, accessible, yet learned study of these three great speeches. It shines the bright light of understanding and discovery on the wisdom so skillfully crafted into these few words that still speak to us nearly 200 years later. Understanding for us as American citizens is the beginning of wisdom, the wisdom we need to cherish to ensure our new birth of freedom shall not perish from the earth.
April 28, 2022
Truly a work of tremendous personal effort and original insight. Schaub must be congratulated for her line-by-line analysis of three of Lincoln's greatest speeches. In her work, she makes the connections between each speech and how Lincoln's choice of words was an attempt to bring the nation together without ever taking personal credit or shaming the populace. She clearly shows that the elimination of slavery was on the agenda of the founders and the others who came after them, but it was a decades-long process to successfully complete. On pages 151-156 of the text, she addresses the New York Times 1619 Project and provides this perspective: “80% of those ever enslaved were alive in 1865 and freed as a consequence of the Civil War. One soldier died for seven persons enslaved from 1619 to 1865, and one soldier died for every person freed by the 13th Amendment.” Lincoln explained that the founders established the foundations of our democracy through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and then their work was done. The work of succeeding generations is to maintain and perpetuate our democracy by living in accordance with the law. Lincoln's greatness lives on to this day in his timeless words.
March 19, 2022
An excellent analysis of three of Abraham Lincoln's speeches, although I question either the accuracy of the title or the inclusion of the Lyceum Address, given early in his career when he wasn't yet 30. If, as it seems, it was included to show how his writing grew and matured over the years, it wouldn't qualify as one of "the greatest," in my opinion. No one would dispute that characterization of the Gettysburg Address or the Second Inaugural. Schaub really gets into the nuts and bolts of the writing, including grammar and word use, though I doubt that she's claiming this was all conscious, as some reviewers seem to think.
There is, however, one thing that kept this from being a 5-star review, and that is the (again, in my opinion) unprofessional and rather obnoxious injection of her own political views, most notably in a comparison of "hate speech" regulation to attempts by pro-slavery advocates to strangle debate before the Civil War (she is notably silent on actual right-wing censorship), and an extended rant against what she calls the "ideologically leftist" 1619 Project.
There is, however, one thing that kept this from being a 5-star review, and that is the (again, in my opinion) unprofessional and rather obnoxious injection of her own political views, most notably in a comparison of "hate speech" regulation to attempts by pro-slavery advocates to strangle debate before the Civil War (she is notably silent on actual right-wing censorship), and an extended rant against what she calls the "ideologically leftist" 1619 Project.
January 31, 2023
Wow! Thank you Diana Schaub for your book! Most know about his Gettysburg Address and Emancipation Proclamation address, but every American needs to revisit critical warnings of Lincoln “increasing disregard for law which pervades the country.” Particularly, Lincoln’s “Lyceum Address” he gave on January 27, 1838 (well before the civil war!!). Lincoln reflects on the 1st Amendment “peaceful assembly” and warns of allowing mob rule he refers to as “mobocratic spirit”, which “all must admit is abroad across the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government and particularly of those consisted like ours may effectively be broken down and destroyed.”…he states “Whenever the vicious portion of the population shall be permitted to gather in bands of hundreds and thousands and burn churches, ravage and rob provision stores, throw printing presses in rivers, shoot editors, hang/burn people at pleasure with impunity, depend on it, this Government cannot last.” His 12th point in this address is poignant in how he (we should) suggests we fortify against such ambiguous allowance of lawlessness or we “will die by suicide.”
March 8, 2022
Diana Schaub, Lincoln historian, provides an analysis of many of his speeches and their meanings for American history. Her facts were impressive. It was Lincoln's vision of American's beginnings and future which he metaphorically equated with both Bibles spirituality.
Did you know that 80% of North American slaves who toiled on this land were freed as a result of the Civil War and the 13th amendment to the Constitution?
Did you know that the population of the United States shrank about equivalent to 7.5 million today due to deaths inflicted by Civil War? Did you know that "white privilege" meant that most deaths North and South were whites who were not slave holders? Fighting Southerns were mostly poor men and not the numerically few slave owners?
Did you know that President Abraham Lincoln was the only President who hung a slave trader? The beginnings of American slavery often cited as "1619" was correctly referenced by Lincoln as 1615, and he spoke its truth in his Second Inaugural Address?
This small readable speech history enlightened me in 2022!
Did you know that 80% of North American slaves who toiled on this land were freed as a result of the Civil War and the 13th amendment to the Constitution?
Did you know that the population of the United States shrank about equivalent to 7.5 million today due to deaths inflicted by Civil War? Did you know that "white privilege" meant that most deaths North and South were whites who were not slave holders? Fighting Southerns were mostly poor men and not the numerically few slave owners?
Did you know that President Abraham Lincoln was the only President who hung a slave trader? The beginnings of American slavery often cited as "1619" was correctly referenced by Lincoln as 1615, and he spoke its truth in his Second Inaugural Address?
This small readable speech history enlightened me in 2022!
August 15, 2022
I kept trying to give this book the benefit of the doubt, but there's not much to recommend it. The decision to analyze only three speeches (and these three speeches) seems arbitrary. The analysis is minutely fixated on some details while completely ignoring others. For example, the author spends a LOT of time parsing (and counting) the verbs, pronouns, etc. in the Gettysburg Address, but she never so much as mentions Lincoln's multiple drafts of the speech or the differences between them.
By the time I reached the odd and undefended claim that Lincoln's Second Inaugural "is the original and better 1619 Project," it had become clear that this author is not really interested in understanding Lincoln or his rhetoric. She instead focuses on creating a simplistic version of Lincoln to align with her own views on contemporary political and cultural controversies.
By the time I reached the odd and undefended claim that Lincoln's Second Inaugural "is the original and better 1619 Project," it had become clear that this author is not really interested in understanding Lincoln or his rhetoric. She instead focuses on creating a simplistic version of Lincoln to align with her own views on contemporary political and cultural controversies.
February 12, 2022
Abraham Lincoln was a fabulous orator, and some of his speeches have become some of the most read - and studied. The Gettysburg Address is one of the most read of his speeches, and highly important in American history. While all his speeches have a purpose, the three delved into through this book are ones that really highlight important issues of the day.
Diana Schaub takes an in-depth look at three of the speeches, giving an analysis and view that delights those who are interested in both politics and history. For those that love Lincoln - these three speeches give a better viewpoint into his skills as a orator and his dedication.
This book was a great read, and one that I highly recommend!
Diana Schaub takes an in-depth look at three of the speeches, giving an analysis and view that delights those who are interested in both politics and history. For those that love Lincoln - these three speeches give a better viewpoint into his skills as a orator and his dedication.
This book was a great read, and one that I highly recommend!
July 7, 2021
His Greatest Speeches is a really great read for those interested in studying literature and politics. This book explores three of Abraham Lincoln's most powerful speeches in a really thought-provoking way. This book also really demonstrates how much of a linguistic genius old Abe was for his time and is a really good read if you like history.
June 13, 2021
Very in depth analysis of three of Lincoln’s most prominent speeches. Great for those well versed in American History, but might be a harder read for those that are not. It is something to use quotes from in the classroom to talk about his speeches and their importance to the time period.
February 11, 2022
Excellent book on 3 of Lincoln's speeches, breaking down his choice of words for each and why he choose them. Very enlightening from my perspective and I thought the author did a fine job of explaining Lincoln's thought process for each speech.
December 18, 2021
Diana Schaub has successfully written one of the best analyses of Lincoln's speeches ever produced in the vast lexicon on our 16th president. While she parses three specific speeches, her insightful analysis draws from many of his other speeches and letters.
The Lyceum Address is less known to the general public even as it's considered a milestone speech to Lincoln scholars. Many of us memorized the Gettysburg Address as part of our early education, and it remains the most well-known speech in history, both domestic and world. The Second Inaugural Address is the most religious sounding of all Lincoln speeches, giving us a depth that will keep scholars debating for many decades hence.
For all of these speeches, Schaub shows her own broad knowledge of religious and democratic history, just as she reveals the deeper historical meanings of the language Lincoln used to move the populace toward individual and collective behavior. She has successfully brought a heightened range of analysis to Lincoln's words. This book is a must-read.
The Lyceum Address is less known to the general public even as it's considered a milestone speech to Lincoln scholars. Many of us memorized the Gettysburg Address as part of our early education, and it remains the most well-known speech in history, both domestic and world. The Second Inaugural Address is the most religious sounding of all Lincoln speeches, giving us a depth that will keep scholars debating for many decades hence.
For all of these speeches, Schaub shows her own broad knowledge of religious and democratic history, just as she reveals the deeper historical meanings of the language Lincoln used to move the populace toward individual and collective behavior. She has successfully brought a heightened range of analysis to Lincoln's words. This book is a must-read.
January 8, 2022
Fascinating, spiritually uplifting analysis. Lincoln operated on another level.
August 3, 2022
Very solid. A good way to think about how Lincoln evolved in his political and moral thought. In conjunction with how our nations founding documents evolved as well.
November 28, 2021
Interesting and informative read
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews