The Lincoln Memorial and American Life [Hardcover]

Christopher A. Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2002

The Lincoln Memorial is one of America's most recognised national shrines, yet it was almost not built. From the project's inception, the memorial - a modified Greek temple designed by the architect Henry Bacon - gave rise to charged cultural and aesthetic debate, including arguments about Modernism and Americanism. Christopher Thomas offers a detailed analysis of Bacon's design and the memorial as a system, including the statue of Lincoln by Daniel Chester French. Using archival data, Thomas discusses just why the memorial looks as it does. Because the idea of a memorial to Lincoln raised questions of race, the legacy of the Civil War, and lingering sectional animosities, the project sparked poltical debate between the legislative and executive branches of government and between political parties. Thomas traces the long and controversial path of the project, ranging from the immediate aftermath of the Civil War through the Progressive era, with its mix of novelty, racism and imperialism. As he concentrates on the memorial's background, design, construction, reception and uses - including the many public demonstrations for civil rights and justice that have taken place there - Thom

Editorial Reviews

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 Supplement

A 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 Journal

Thoroughly 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. -- Review

Well-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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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (June 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 069101194X
• ISBN-13: 978-0691011943
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,532,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Continuation of the author's PhD disertation., September 17, 2002

By 

Maureen Ogorman "leneker" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lincoln Memorial and American Life (Hardcover)

A little too dry and academic to be called gripping, it is still an interesting read about one of the great monuments and a building that has become part of the nations psyche. Also for a book on the design and creation of the memorial, I thought it was lacking in pictures documenting the building of the actual memorial. It has some, but I was hoping for more.