Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power [Paperback]

Richard Carwardine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2007

As a defender of national unity, a leader in war, and the emancipator of slaves, Abraham Lincoln lays ample claim to being the greatest of our presidents. But the story of his rise to greatness is as complex as it is compelling. In this superb, prize-winning biography, acclaimed historian Richard Carwardine examines Lincoln’s dramatic political journey, from his early years in the Illinois legislature to his nation-shaping years in the White House. Here, Carwardine combines a new perspective with a compelling narrative to deliver a fresh look at one of the pillars of American politics. He probes the sources of Lincoln’s moral and political philosophy and uses his groundbreaking research to cut through the myth and expose the man behind it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The heart of this powerful book details Lincoln's election to and years in the White House. In describing his campaign for president, Oxford historian Carwardine (Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America) recreates the intense party politics of the mid-19th century. The newly formed Republican Party was home to Americans with many different political agendas, and Lincoln's "blend of constitutional conservatism and high-minded... moralism" was a good basis for coalition. Carwardine pays careful attention to Lincoln's religious views, arguing that war brought him into close contact with evangelicals, who argued that the president would only succeed in reuniting the country if he obeyed God's word. Carwardine also traces the evolution of Lincoln's thinking about slavery—though he embraced emancipation first because winning the war required it, by the time he was killed Lincoln had edged toward black men's suffrage. One closes this powerful biography wondering how postbellum politics might have been different were it not for that fateful gunshot on April 14, 1865. Cawardine's Lincoln Prize–winning study is not only analytical and smart, it's also delightfully readable—and it will surely emerge as one of the most important Lincoln books to be published this decade. 74 b&w photos, 3 maps. (Jan. 13)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–For all that has been written about the 16th president, Carwardine has found an aspect worthy of closer focus: Lincoln as the man who discovered and developed a political agenda, worked to advance it, and led both the nation and himself to new heights. The author discusses his subject's background, both personal and political; how Lincoln's principles led him to the Whig party and then on to the Republicans; and how these principles helped him reach his status as savior of the Union and the Great Emancipator. This is a fascinating tale of the 19th-century politician who became popularly identified as America's greatest president.–Ted Westervelt, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400096022
• ISBN-13: 978-1400096022
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #427,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Birth of Freedom, January 15, 2006

By 

Etienne ROLLAND-PIEGUE (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power (Hardcover)

It all began with a visit to the Lincoln Memorial. There the man sat, with his oversized arms and legs, his face inscrutable, having both a firm grip on the ground and towering above the earth, reaching heaven. Emotions were overwhelming, and in my confusion I was reminded all at once of a scene from a Greek tragedy, of Oedipus having met his fate as prophesized by the Delphi Oracle, or of the Pythia who delivered that sentence. The proximity of the Washington Monument also evoked the distant civilization of Egypt, with its symbolic constructions that are a powerful testimony to the transience of human endeavors. There he was, the American Sphinx, seating near the obelisk, surrounded by lapidary inscriptions, who seemed to greet every visitor with a riddle echoing on the temple's walls: "whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."

Having had my curiosity aroused, I turned to biographies of Lincoln in order to understand the man behind the myth, so as to begin to answer the riddle of America's endurance. Richard J. Carwardine's book is by far the best biography I stumbled across. He analyzes Lincoln within his unique historical and political context, arguing that Lincoln was as much a product of his era as he was a producer of historical events.

The distinctive mark of this essay is to uncover and explain the sources of Lincoln's power. In mid-nineteenth-century America, the world's first mass participatory democracy, political success derived from the effective interplay of three elements: Lincoln's personal ambition, his sensitivity to public opinion and ability to shape it, and his skill in using the organizing machinery of the political party and other networks of communication. Carwardine argues that Lincoln was not squeamish about utilizing the power of his political office and the circumstances of war to press the limits of the constitution, as in the suspension of habeas corpus. However, he also asserts, although somewhat indirectly, that Lincoln's moral center guided his political actions and, at least by the war's end, religion played a significant role in Lincoln's conduct of the war.

Another original feature of this study is to focus on Lincoln's inner religion and his relationship with Protestant evangelicalism. This is a particularly touchy subject, since Lincoln left no diary or private journal and was rather secretive on this issue. As did his opinion on slavery, his religious beliefs evolved, particularly in the course of his presidency which took a tremendous toll on him. But as a friend testified, "the sense of right and wrong was extremely acute in his nature," and much of his political force came from his ability to shape the debates of the day in moral terms. Another constant was Lincoln's fatalism and his belief in the operations of providence. In the end, he came to see emancipation as mandated by God and necessary to abate the terrible punishment represented by the war.

Lincoln's religious credentials and role as liberator of an enslaved people cast him as a latter-day Moses. His death transformed him into a Christ-like martyr, slain on Good Friday, sanctifying America into what he prophesied in the Gettysburg address as "a new birth of freedom."

55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Lincoln to Appear in Many Years, June 28, 2003

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Hoodlum (Frederick, MD USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lincoln (Paperback)

This clearly written book is by a true expert in the politics and history of the antebellum and Civil War eras. Carwardine, Rhodes Professor of American History at Oxford University, presents a balanced, thoughtful, well-informed treatment of Lincoln as a political leader, expertly placing him in the full context of his times. Carwardine is especially wise on the subject of Lincoln's religious beliefs and their influence on his words and conduct as president. This book is an outstanding work of history and interpretation, based on the best primary and secondary sources.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Study of Lincoln, March 14, 2006

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power (Hardcover)

Abraham Lincoln's life and career continue to fascinate and inspire Americans. Richard Carwardine's recent study: "Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power" joins a select number of outstanding works on Lincoln written by a non-American scholar. Richard Carwardine is the Rhodes Professor of American History at Oxford University. His book, fittingly, was awarded the Lincoln prize, the first work of a British writer to be so honored.

Professor Carwardine's study tells little of Lincoln's private life: his marriage, prior relationships with women, his personal interests, his depression, his sexual orientation, and other issues that have been explored in some recent works. He seems to presuppose a knowledge in his readers of the rudimentary facts of Lincoln's life. (A duel in which Lincoln participated as a young man is mentioned twice in passing but never developed.) Instead, Professor Carwadine explores Lincoln's public career, before and during his presidency, and tries to develop the traits of character and the circumstances that made Lincoln what he was.

Thus, Professor Carwardine devotes a great deal of attention to Lincoln's overwhelming ambition -- noted by virtually every writer on this subject -- and his desire to make something of his life through work and effort. Professor Carwardine also emphasizes Lincoln's shrewdness, knowledge of human nature, ability to present himself, and facility at working with and blending together disparate groups and ideas. These pragmatic, practical abilities would prove essential to the tasks Lincoln was called upon to perform as president.

Professor Carwardine emphasizes as well another, more thoughtful side of Lincoln. His book describes Lincoln's role as a leader who endeavored to shape and mold public opinion rather than to be led by it. Professor Carwarding describes the fundamental role that moral conviction played in Lincoln's political career -- in his lifelong belief in the evil of slavery and in his devotion to the cause of democracy and the union. The book describes well the development of Lincoln's religious convictions as he assumed the burdens of his presidency. From his origins as a skeptic and freethinker, Lincoln developed a sense of a just and providential God directing the course of human events for reasons of His own. Lincoln's theology dovetailed at some point with America's evangelical Protestantism, even though Lincoln never became a traditional believer or practicing Christian. Lincoln's religious sense and moral fervor, for Professor Carwardine, became essential to the leadership he provided during the Civil War, as evidenced by the Emacipation Proclamation and the Second Inaugural Address, among much else.

Professor Carwardine offers an insightful portrayal of American life during Civil War times, particularly in middle-America as he discusses Lincoln's rise to power in Illinois and the 1858 debates with Stephen Douglas. He shows how Lincoln evolved during his years as president and how both his moral vision and his sense for the politically practicable were essential to holding the Union together and creating a sense of American nationalism.

As does much modern history and biography, Professor Carwardine is at pains to separate Lincoln, the hero and the cultural icon, from Lincoln the man, and from the facts of his life. But in spite of these efforts and of Professor Carwardine's own understated conclusions, this book presents the reader with a remarkable man and a remarkable life. Professor Carwardine concludes: "While he was certainly not reluctant to wield political authority, his practical policy grew from a strong sense of moral purpose, and his course as president was shaped not by impouslive, self-aggrandizing action or self-righteousness, but by deep thought, breadth of vision, careful concern for consequences, and a remarkable lack of pride." (p.321)

Robin Friedman