Lincoln Reconsidered

Essays on the Civil War Era

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Paperback
$15.00 US
On sale Feb 13, 2001 | 224 Pages | 978-0-375-72532-6
David Herbert Donald, Lincoln biographer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, has revised and updated his classic and influential book on Lincoln and the era he dominated.

When Lincoln Reconsidered was first published it ushered in the process of rethinking the Civil War that continues to this day. In the third edition, David provides two important new essays, on Lincoln's patchy education—which we find was more extensive than even the great man realized—and on Lincoln's complex and conflicted relationship to the rule of law. Together with a new preface and a thoroughly updated bibliographical essay, Lincoln Reconsidered will continue to be a touchstone of Lincoln scholarship for decades to come.

“Written with style and wit, emanating from great learning, [Lincoln Reconsidered] is as refreshing as an opened window in a stuffy room.”—The New York Times

“Brilliant....Deserve[s] to be pondered by all scholars in the field.”—American Historical Review
Preface

O N E
Getting Right with Lincoln

T W O
The Folklore Lincoln

T H R E E
Toward a Reconsideration of Abolitionists

F O U R
An Excess of Democracy:
The American Civil War and the Social Process

F I V E
Education Defective: Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness

S I X
Herndon and Mary Lincoln

S E V E N
Refighting the Civil War

E I G H T
The Radicals and Lincoln

N I N E
Abraham Lincoln and the American Pragmatic Tradition

T E N
A Whig in the White House

E L E V E N
Reverence for the Laws:
Abraham Lincoln and the Founding Fathers

T W E LV E
A. Lincoln, Politician

Bibliographical Essay
Index
David Donald is the author of many books on the Civil War era, including the classic text The Civil War and Reconstruction, written in collaboration with J. G. Randall, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, as well as the biography Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe. View titles by David Herbert Donald

About

David Herbert Donald, Lincoln biographer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, has revised and updated his classic and influential book on Lincoln and the era he dominated.

When Lincoln Reconsidered was first published it ushered in the process of rethinking the Civil War that continues to this day. In the third edition, David provides two important new essays, on Lincoln's patchy education—which we find was more extensive than even the great man realized—and on Lincoln's complex and conflicted relationship to the rule of law. Together with a new preface and a thoroughly updated bibliographical essay, Lincoln Reconsidered will continue to be a touchstone of Lincoln scholarship for decades to come.

“Written with style and wit, emanating from great learning, [Lincoln Reconsidered] is as refreshing as an opened window in a stuffy room.”—The New York Times

“Brilliant....Deserve[s] to be pondered by all scholars in the field.”—American Historical Review

Table of Contents

Preface

O N E
Getting Right with Lincoln

T W O
The Folklore Lincoln

T H R E E
Toward a Reconsideration of Abolitionists

F O U R
An Excess of Democracy:
The American Civil War and the Social Process

F I V E
Education Defective: Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness

S I X
Herndon and Mary Lincoln

S E V E N
Refighting the Civil War

E I G H T
The Radicals and Lincoln

N I N E
Abraham Lincoln and the American Pragmatic Tradition

T E N
A Whig in the White House

E L E V E N
Reverence for the Laws:
Abraham Lincoln and the Founding Fathers

T W E LV E
A. Lincoln, Politician

Bibliographical Essay
Index

Author

David Donald is the author of many books on the Civil War era, including the classic text The Civil War and Reconstruction, written in collaboration with J. G. Randall, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, as well as the biography Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe. View titles by David Herbert Donald