Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President [Hardcover]

Allen C. Guelzo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

A unique "intellectual biography" of America's most celebrated president.

Despite tremendous interest in Abraham Lincoln and his place in one of America's most tumultuous historical periods, little has been written about his religious life. This truly fresh look at the nation's sixteenth president relates the outward events of Lincoln's life to his inner spiritual struggles and sets them both against the intellectual backdrop of his age. Allen Guelzo's unique intellectual biography explores the role of ideas in Lincoln's life, treating him as a serious thinker deeply involved in the nineteenth-century debates over politics, religion, and culture. Lincoln emerges here as a creative yet profoundly paradoxical man--a man possessed of deep moral and religious character yet without adherence to organized religion. More than a masterful biography of a great American figure, this volume also provides important insights into the ideas that have shaped the American landscape. Based on new materials recovered from the papers of Lincoln's early biographers, Gu! ! elzo's work sheds light on the intellectual conflicts that once led to civil war--and that still influence today's "culture wars".

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Guelzo's Abraham Lincoln tackles the president's moral and religious beliefs and focuses on the emancipation of slaves. It's a curious, even fascinating book because Lincoln, a 19th-century liberal, did not adhere to an organized religion, although he frequently used biblical language to express himself. Guelzo believes Lincoln's freeing of the slaves was an act that had economic roots and superseded morality to lay down the foundations of modern capitalism as well as the Republican Party. Except for an awkward introduction, the work is easy listening a narrative of Lincoln's life that spells out his beliefs in the context of the times. Narrator Edward Lewis tries hard but is held back by the author's turgid prose. For large libraries with big budgets. James L. Dudley, Westhampton, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Review

It is a testament to the strength of "Redeemer President" that the matters it addresses resist easy summary. The value of the book itself, however, is easy enough to state: Out of the countless volumes written about our 16th president, it ranks quite simply among the best. -- Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2000

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 461 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 1 edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802838723
• ISBN-13: 978-0802838728
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #589,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Supremely satisfying, December 19, 1999

By 

Sean D Ohms Winnie (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (Hardcover)

I've never written one of these reviews before but having just finished this book I feel compelled to sing its praises. I have also never been a big fan of biographies as a genre, but given this book as an unexpected gift I thought I'd make a go of it.

I made the mistake of reading one of the appendices of this book before starting it. This appendix detailed the many prior attempts to put Lincoln's life into one or two volumes and the consequent warping of the details and ideas of his life by these biographers. It was enough to plant a seed of doubt in anyone's mind that justice could be done to Lincoln's life as a biography.

But after the introduction to this book, the reader is easily reassured that this is no ordinary biography - it focuses in a very analytical way on the culture and community philosophy of 19th century America and brings the details of Lincoln's life into play only within that context. It never sinks into outright eulogies or worship of Lincoln, but rather takes pains to emphasize his conflicting priorities, and above all his humanity. It is an approach that makes one appreciate Lincoln much more than if he were simply praised for 400 pages.

I was infatuated with this book from beginning to end, and am already planning on reading it again.

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, January 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (Hardcover)

Allen Guelzo has written a masterly and long-overdue intellectual biography of a leader whose political, moral and religious thought shaped and guided our nation at the time of its greatest crisis. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President traces every important thread in the formation of Lincoln's intellectual development, and sets each in the context of historical events and the main currents of American thought. Guelzo's remarkable and important book should be read by all students of American history, period, and by anyone with any pretension to understand the intellectual history of this country.

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book in Lincoln Studies, May 12, 2000

By 

Scott E. Rosenau (Hanover, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (Hardcover)

Thousands of books have been written about Abraham Lincoln. These books have ranged from general biographies, multi-volume biographies, examinations of his political career, his presidency, and his views on slavery. Allen Guelzo, in this excellent book, gives us an ideological look at the 16th president. Most historians have ignored Lincoln as a philosophical thinker and Guelzo tries to open up this aspect of Lincoln's character and thought. Examining Lincoln's moral and religious beliefs and how they evolved, Guelzo portrays Lincoln, not as a religious skeptic or as a Christian Redeemer as other biographers have, but as a seeker. Throughout his life, according to Guelzo, Lincoln is looking for a religious structure that he can believe in, but never finds one that meets his needs. Lincoln continues to sense a feeling of inadequacy as the beliefs from his predestinarian Calvinist background give him a sense that he was not one of the elect. This predestinarian background also makes Lincoln feel that, in Lincoln's words, "events have controlled me." During the Civil War, it is this sense of inevitability and predetermination that guides Lincoln in many of his anti-slavery and reconstruction policies. Lincoln sees himself as a tool in bringing about God's will, even though he doubts that he will achieve salvation.