From Library Journal
Thomas's lucid, revealing, and amply illustrated book gives a full-bodied life history of the Lincoln Memorial, with an eye to the ways various political, social, architectural, and artistic interests claimed and used the memorial to push their own ideas about nation, race, aesthetics, and social justice. Thomas (history of art, Univ. of Victoria, British Columbia) looks at the whole of the memorial, including the inscribed tablets, murals, building, and even landscape and location on the Mall, to show how and why the memorial came to dominate the public imagination. In the process of conceiving and then building the project, as Thomas argues, the memorialized Lincoln moved from being the symbol of sectional reconciliation, to aggressive statesman in the Theodore Roosevelt mold, to emancipator and more. By the 1960s, the memorial had become the symbol for civil rights and human justice that went beyond party or any one person. Thomas devotes considerable attention to issues of design and appearance, all to good effect, in showing how "beauty" informed belief. The result is a book that gives life and meaning to the great marbled temple on the Mall and reminds us how contested "memory" was and can be. Highly recommended for all libraries. Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
A trove of information on the design and building, and the human story behind the construction. --
Kenneth Anderson, Times Literary SupplementA very fine study. . . . Christopher Thomas breaks much new ground in illuminating the context for the memorial's emergence. --
Paul E. Teed , Civil War History Thomas's lucid, revealing, and amply illustrated book gives a full-bodied history of the Lincoln Memorial. --
Library JournalThoroughly researched, thoughtful, and thought-provoking study of a complex topic. . . . [H]is book is exactly long enough to cover the subject. --
Catherine Bishir , Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Undoubtedly
The Lincoln Memorial and American Life is the authoritative volume on all matters having to do with the Lincoln Memorial for the foreseeable future. . . . The finale of this book is worth the whole volume, being the definitive essay on the meaning of the memorial in American life. --
ReviewWell-researched history of the Lincoln Memorial . . . [dealing with] the politics of commemoration as well as issues of aesthetics and design. --
Choice
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