Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated [Hardcover]

Jack E Levin (Author), Mark R. Levin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2010

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Long before his conservative manifesto Liberty and Tyranny became a #1 New York Times bestseller, Mark R. Levin's love for his country was instilled in him by his father, Jack E. Levin. At family dinners, Jack would share his bountiful knowledge of American history and, especially, the inspiration of Abraham Lincoln.

The son of immigrants, Jack Levin is an American patriot who responded with deep personal emotion to Lincoln's call for liberty and equality. His admiration for the great Civil War president inspired him to personally design and produce a beautiful volume, enhanced with period illustrations and striking battlefield images by Matthew Brady and other renowned photographers of the era, that brings to life the words of Lincoln's awe-inspiring response to one of the Civil War's costliest conflicts.

Now Jack Levin's loving homage to the spirit of American freedom is available in an essential edition that features his original foreword as well as a touching new preface by his son, Mark Levin. In this way, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated celebrates the passing of patriotic pride and historical insight from generation to generation, from father to son.

The day following the dedication of the National Soldier's Cemetery at Gettysburg, Edward Everett, who spoke before Lincoln, sent him a note saying: “Permit me to express my great admiration for the thoughts expressed by you, with such eloquent simplicity and appropriateness, at the consecration of the cemetery. I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

Lincoln wrote back to Everett: “In our respective parts yesterday, you could not have been excused to make a short address, nor I a long one. I am pleased to know that in your judgement the little I did say was not entirely a failure.”

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jack E. Levin has, at various times, been an author, artist, and small businessman.  The son of immigrants, Levin is an American patriot who has never stopped loving his country.

Mark R. Levin is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, president of Landmark Legal Foundation, and a talk radio host. He is the son of Jack E. Levin.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Four score and seven years ago,

Our fathers brought forth upon this continent,

a new nation,

conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war,

testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note nor long remember what we say here,

but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—

that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—

that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—

… with malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. —from LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

© 2010 Jack E. Levin

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Threshold Editions; Ill edition (May 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439188963
• ISBN-13: 978-1439188965
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > United States > Civil War > Military Leaders
  • #19 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( L ) > Lincoln, Abraham
  • #62 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant and compelling - Artfully captures the spirit and power of the Gettysburg Address., May 4, 2010

By 

Mahatma Kane Jeeves "bookjunkie" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated (Hardcover)

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated does what most history books (even great treatises) never manage to do - It captures the power and poignancy of the moment Abraham Lincoln rose to deliver what is one of the world's greatest statements on democratic governance and the human character.

Through Lincoln's own words and telling contemporary photographs, Jack Levin captures the raw emotion and historically charged atmosphere of an era when America was literally tearing itself apart. He goes beyond the commonplace telling of how Lincoln's address came about and what it came to mean, and gives us the sensory and emotional experience of an eye witness to momentous history in the making.

This book should be a cornerstone in every American's education about the times and events that have made us the nation we are today. It is also a telling reminder of what each generation must fight to preserve in order to give to future generations the legacy of American exceptionalism.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.

58 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short but Powerful, Just Like Lincoln's Words at Gettysburg, May 4, 2010

By 

Joseph P. Lorusso "AmericanJoe" (West Hartford, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated (Hardcover)

I cannot do this book justice with just some words on a screen... I am 27 years old and it takes alot for me to get a lump in my throat, but this book has done it as I sit here at work paging through this treasure. Over my life, I have read the words that Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg, but none have so deeply penetrated the depths of my soul as the format of this book. With each turn of the page comes another powerful line accompanied by another powerful image that reminds us that the Civil War was not some fable that took place in Ancient History. No. Jack E. Levin shows us that America, OUR America, OUR country, is not merely a geographical "place" on the globe, but rather an idea, a mindset, a unique human experience and that our history is one of uniquely AMERICAN character. This book should be required reading in ALL public schools. This book is not someone's subjective point-of-view passed off as fact. Quite the contrary. 'Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated' is the words of one divinely-inspired President, accompanied by the incredibly detailed photographs of past Americans who carried out and who died for the belief in humanity's ONLY opportunity to live as God intended, freely. With this book, Mr. Jack E. Levin has created his second masterpiece - his first being the American Hero and Patriot, Mark R. Levin.

41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gettysburg Remembered, May 4, 2010

By 

Nova (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated (Hardcover)

An outstanding tribute to a seminal event. Jack Levin's selection of hauting photos coupled with the immortal words of Lincoln should be required in all classrooms. Although I'm ashamed to admit it, I hadn't read the entire Gettysburg Address since high school. This book renewed my interest in the Civil War.

Also featured is a moving prologue by Mark Levin.