The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner caught my eye when it was nominated for the Pulitzer prize.
Started: 8/14/2017
Completed: 10/23/2017
Recommended By: I thought I read a review in The Nation, but I cannot find that review on-line, so it seems like I must not have. There were numerous reviews in the Washington Post, New York Times and National Public Radio, but they all seem to be around the time it was published (2010) and not after the Pulitzer. I remember that the Pulitzer really caught my eye (I've read a fair amount about Lincoln), so it must have been a review after the Prize was awarded in 2011. Maybe it was mentioned in passing or something like that. The upshot, however, is that I cannot remember exactly what the recommendation was, but it may have just been a summer reading review or best 100 books review or something along those lines.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Words for which I sought help:
clevis -- a "U" shaped or forked metal connector within which another part can be fastened by means of a bolt or pin passing through the ends of the connector.
pertinacious -- holding firmly to an opinion or course of action.
Review:
This book is a really interesting walk through Lincoln's relationship with Slavery. I have listened to courses from the "The Great Courses" on the Lincoln-Douglas debates and I had read several of the speeches of both Lincoln and Douglas. I was, thus, aware of Lincoln's position in favor of relocating the slaves and his stated belief that white and black people could not live together. I understood that the Emancipation Proclamation was as much an effort to bolster the Union's troop strength as it was a condemnation of that "peculiar institution." I did not realize, however, that Lincoln's personal view of black people and the institution of slavery in general underwent a series of dramatic changes which led him to being an abolitionist and a supporter of suffrage for all regardless of race. I had never had occasion to read Lincoln's second inaugural address although I quickly recognized, "With malice toward none..." It really lays out the sense he had of the role of the civil war as a means to emancipation; his sense of the war's start as an effort to preserve the Union; and his desire to bring the war to a swift conclusion and lasting peace. The research done to bring to the present the details of Lincoln's thinking, the opposition and support he found, as well as the times in which he made his decision was excellent.
This book is a really interesting walk through Lincoln's relationship with Slavery. I have listened to courses from the "The Great Courses" on the Lincoln-Douglas debates and I had read several of the speeches of both Lincoln and Douglas. I was, thus, aware of Lincoln's position in favor of relocating the slaves and his stated belief that white and black people could not live together. I understood that the Emancipation Proclamation was as much an effort to bolster the Union's troop strength as it was a condemnation of that "peculiar institution." I did not realize, however, that Lincoln's personal view of black people and the institution of slavery in general underwent a series of dramatic changes which led him to being an abolitionist and a supporter of suffrage for all regardless of race. I had never had occasion to read Lincoln's second inaugural address although I quickly recognized, "With malice toward none..." It really lays out the sense he had of the role of the civil war as a means to emancipation; his sense of the war's start as an effort to preserve the Union; and his desire to bring the war to a swift conclusion and lasting peace. The research done to bring to the present the details of Lincoln's thinking, the opposition and support he found, as well as the times in which he made his decision was excellent.
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