In Defense of History
by Sara GabbardIn Defense of History Sara Gabbard Daniel Boorstin, Pulitzer Prize winning historian and Librarian of Congress, once said that “trying to plan for the future without a sense of the past is like trying to plant cut flowers.” A statement from John Adams expresses the passage of time and the resulting changes: “I must […]
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Lincoln the Inquirer: An Interview with M. Kelly Tillery, Esq
by M. Kelly Tillery, Sara GabbardLincoln the Inquirer: An Interview with M. Kelly Tillery, Esq Sara Gabbard Sara Gabbard: Please explain your conclusion that Abraham Lincoln was inquisitive at an early age. M. Kelly Tillery: A number of people who knew Lincoln as a boy and young man remarked on his voracious appetite for information about anything and everything. Herndon’s […]
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Book Review: Caroline E. Janney, Ends of War
by Burrus M. CarnahanCaroline E. Janney, Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee’s Army after Appomattox Reviewed by Burrus M. Carnahan How can a democracy turn from a state of civil war to a state of peace? After April 9, 1865, US military officers, government officials, and ordinary citizens wrestled with this problem in the months following Lee’s […]
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Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, An Interview with Allen Guelzo
by Allen C. Guelzo, Sara GabbardAbraham Lincoln: Redeemer President An Interview with Allen Guelzo by Sara Gabbard Sara Gabbard: Please explain the circumstances of this new edition of your book. Allen Guelzo: I have to answer this a little shamefacedly. I did it with a question. Four years ago, I was delivering a lecture on Lincoln in Grand Rapids, Michigan, […]
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History as Portrayed in Art: An Interview with Harold Holzer
by Harold Holzer, Sara GabbardHistory as Portrayed in Art: An Interview with Harold Holzer Sara Gabbard Sara Gabbard: Please explain the circumstances under which you and your co-authors (Gabor Boritt and Mark Neely, Jr.) undertook this enormous project. Harold Holzer: Back in 1982—it’s hard to believe it was 40 years ago!—the three of us began discussing Lincoln engravings and […]
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Lincoln & Poetry
by Sara GabbardLincoln & Poetry Sara Gabbard In any scholarly biography of Abraham Lincoln, a reader will find countless references to this prairie lawyer’s love of poetry. I’m not sure that biographers will ever come up with a definitive explanation for this passion. Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon told the story that, once when they were on […]
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A New Lincoln Discovery
by Jason EmersonA New Lincoln Discovery: Family of Lincoln Enthusiast Finds Unprecedented Autograph Collection & Lincoln-Related Items Jason Emerson Some new Lincoln relics have surfaced recently, owned by the family of a man who had met and “known” Abraham Lincoln and had spent decades traveling the world talking about the Great Emancipator. While today we all carry […]
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Getting Right with Mary Todd Lincoln
by William D. PedersonGetting Right with Mary Todd Lincoln William D. Pederson George and Martha, Abraham and Mary Todd, Franklin and Eleanor, Jack and Jackie, legendary First Couples so familiar to the public that their names blend into one. The near-universal recognition of Abraham and Mary Todd, the high profile Team Lincoln, includes the large number of books […]
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Lincoln & The 1862 Minnesota Sioux Trials
by Burrus M. CarnahanLincoln & The 1862 Minnesota Sioux Trials Burrus M. Carnahan One hundred and fifty years ago the Upper and Lower Sioux Reservations were located in southwestern Minnesota on a thin strip of land on the south side of the Minnesota River. After their traditional hunting grounds had been depleted by fur trapping and white settlement, […]
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Mystery Solved: Why the Harper’s Weekly Close-Up of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Credited A Photo By Alexander Gardner
by Harold HolzerMystery Solved: Why the Harper’s Weekly Close-Up of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Credited A Photo By Alexander Gardner Harold Holzer Students of mid-nineteenth-century image-making know that engravers and lithographers of that period—along with painters and sculptors—had become increasingly dependent on the medium of photography to provide source material for portraits. One of the great beneficiaries of […]
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Book Review: Diana Schaub, His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation
by Burrus M. CarnahanDiana Schaub, His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation Reviewed by Burrus Carnahan Diana Schaub has written a thought-provoking book that may be the first of a new genre of Lincoln studies – reflections on his ideas in the context of the mob violence that struck major cities in 2020 and the riot at the […]
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The Sangamon, Soured: Lincoln, The Man, & Its Twisted Tropes
by Bethany VillaruzThe Sangamon, Soured: Lincoln, The Man & Its Twisted Tropes Bethany Villaruz A slight summer breeze ruffled through the leaves lining the shimmering Sangamon River. A young Edgar Lee Masters, known to his family as only “Lee,” frolicked along Menard County’s defining feature. The winding river curved like an artist’s desultory brushstroke through the landscape […]
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Redeeming The Great Emancipator: The Harvard University Lecture, An Interview with Allen Guelzo
by Allen C. Guelzo, Sara GabbardRedeeming The Great Emancipator the Harvard University Lecture An Interview with Allen Guelzo by Sara Gabbard Sara Gabbard: What were the circumstances surrounding your Lecture titled Redeeming the Great Emancipator. Allen Guelzo: That requires a long answer. Redeeming the Great Emancipator really began in 2004, when I published Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery […]
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Herndon’s Informants: An Interview with Douglas Wilson
by Douglas L. Wilson, Sara GabbardHerndon’s Informants: An Interview with Douglas Wilson by Sara Gabbard Sara Gabbard: This had to have been an enormous project. What first led you to undertake the task? Douglas Wilson: I had been working on Thomas Jefferson for several years, mostly having to do with his early reading and education, the formation of his […]
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The Grant Administration & International Law
by Burrus M. Carnahan“Respect the Rights of All Nations, Demanding Equal Respect for Our Own”[1] The Grant Administration & International Law Burrus Carnahan In the last decade, historians have reassessed the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. Previously considered one of our worst presidents, new scholarship has discovered accomplishments and strengths earlier ignored. Grant wanted “let us have peace” […]
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