The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text [Paperback]

Harold Holzer (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0823223426 | ISBN-13: 978-0823223428 | Publication Date: March 23, 2004 | Edition: 2

The seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held during the Illinois senatorial race of 1858 are among the most important statements in American political history, dramatic struggles over the issues that would tear apart the nation in the Civil War: the virtues of a republic and the evils of slavery. In this acclaimed book, Holzer brings us as close as possible to what Lincoln and Douglas actually said, Using transcripts of Lincoln's speeches as recorded by the pro-Douglas newspaper, and vice-versa, he offers the most reliable, unedited record available of the debates. Also included are background on the sites, crowd comments, and a new introduction.A vivid, boisterous picture of politics during our most divisive period.This fresh, fascinating examination.. deserves a place in all American history collection.-Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Those who have read the debates between Lincoln and Douglas that took place during the 1858 Senate race in Illinois may not have read what was actually said. The authenticity of the texts has always been in dispute, with the political presses of the day polishing the prose of their candidate and Lincoln himself publishing a sanitized version two years later. The editor of this volume (coeditor, with Mario Cuomo, of Lincoln on Democracy , LJ 10/15/90), claims to present the first authentic texts of the seven confrontations. Interspersed are shouted comments from the crowds, background on the sites, and renditions of how the debates may have appeared. What emerges is a vivid, boisterous picture of politics during our most divisive period: the dull ineloquence of Lincoln and his interplay with hecklers, the blatant bigotry and slashing humor of Douglas, and the small degree to which campaigning has changed in 135 years. This fresh, fascinating examination of a significant step in our march toward the Civil War deserves a place in all American history collections. For public, school, and academic libraries.
- James Moffet, Baldwin P.L., Birmingham, Mich.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A vivid, boisterous picture of politics during our most divisive period..., deserves a place in all American history collections." -- Library Journal

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Product Details

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: Fordham University Press; 2 edition (March 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823223426
• ISBN-13: 978-0823223428
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #525,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: There Were Giants in Those Days, February 4, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text (Paperback)

The series of debates in Illinois between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 campaign for the U.S. Senate are one of those legendary political encounters of which everyone has heard but few have gone back and actually read. However, since Lincoln never kept any of his papers prior to winning the Presidency, we do not have autograph copies of his Cooper Union or House Divided speeches, let alone his handwritten notes of the great debates. The claim made by Harold Holzer for his edition is that this is the first complete, unexpurgated text of the debates to be published. Holzer notes that what we have relied upon previously for debate transcripts were copies taken down by stenographers for intensely partisan newspapers. Holzer's hypothesis is that the editors and transcribers for these newspapers would improve the remarks by their own candidates while leaving those of his opponent alone. Supporting his idea are the unedited texts of the debate he uncovered. Of course, Holzer provides his own useful additions to the texts of the seven debates in the form of extensive notes (often covering the audience reactions as detailed by various papers). As a two-time winner of the Lincoln/Barondess Award of the Lincoln Round Table and the first Award of Achievement given by the Abraham Lincoln Association for his hundreds of articles and books on Lincoln, Holzer is certainly in a position to make such judgments.

You should be warned that reading these debates will both exhilarate and depress you. These debates lasted three hours and forced the candidates to develop comprehensive proposals and to respond in detail to the attacks of their opponent. The thought of Bore or Gush trying to talk from notes for even fifteen minutes is enough to make you laugh, cry or bang you head against the wall. Reading the Lincoln-Douglas debates, in this or any other edition, will certainly give you more of a feel for the issue of Slavery circa 1858 than you will ever get from a history book from which you may get a few choice quotes (what the back cover would call "volleys"). For those of us who want access to primary documents, who read court decisions rather than let talking heads on the tube tell us what they think things might possibly mean, books like this are a great joy. For those who admire Lincoln, the right man in the right place at the right time at the worst moment in our country's history, the Lincoln in these debates who is speaking extemporaneously from notes rather than reading from a carefully crafted and fine tuned text is arguably the closest we get to the real man.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The authentic sound of a famous debate, April 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text (Paperback)

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates have justly been celebrated in American history as one of the milestones in Abraham Lincoln's rise to the presidency. However, Lincoln's own well-meaning assembling of the received text of these debates used only transcripts from papers friendly to either candidate--transcripts which, Harold Holzer argues, were smoothed over and revised by reporters eager to make "their" candidate look good. Holzer insists that we must go to the transcripts of Lincoln's speeches by the pro-Douglas paper, and vice-versa, to get a true sense of what was said off the cuff by the debaters. His edition portrays vividly not only the high-sounding rhetoric of Douglas and the noble ideals of Lincoln, but also the hesitations and mis-speakings of both men. In this way, the reader gets a better sense of what it was like to be in the crowd listening as history was being made

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lincoln- Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text, June 26, 2007

By 

Robert W. Manchester "Baseball Fan" (Waldorf, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text (Paperback)

This is a great historical resource. I found it to be a great source for insight into the man and the beliefs of Abraham Lincoln. I highly recommend this book.