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Summers with Lincoln: Looking for the Man in the Monuments

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Everywhere you look in the United States there seems to be a statue of Lincoln. From Washington, DC, to Fort Wayne, IN, from Cincinnati, OH, to Newark, NJ, our nation's parks, squares, and town halls are dotted with sculptures of the sixteenth president. Over the course of four summers, teacher and author James Percoco traveled to learn first-hand about our nation's mania to put up stone and metal remembrances of Lincoln. He discovered a Lincoln who in death has come to embody each generation's idealistic hopes for a leader; a kind of stand-in for "the better angels of our nature," to quote Lincoln himself. In some ways it is not Lincoln, the president, war leader, or emancipator whom these sculptures commemorate but the Lincoln of our imaginations. A cross between "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat-Moon, and "Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck, Percoco's "Summers with Lincoln" makes for thought-provoking reading about an important part of the American landscape.

Award-winning high school history teacher James A. Percoco presents Summers with Lincoln: Looking for the Man in the Monuments, a thoughtful chronicle of how seven sculpted monuments honoring President Lincoln came to be. Blending scholarship with masterful flair, Percoco smoothly weaves historical stories into his research; the result is a thoroughly accessible account sure to fascinate as well as enlighten readers of all backgrounds. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrates this highly recommended contribution to American history and public library shelves.

Gives a fine look at the various icons that have been developed for the grestest American who ever lived. The text describes and 'illustrates' the memorials made on Lincoln and how they have impacted upon our general conscience. A real MUST for all Lincoln fans as well as those who overall enjoy learning about our nation and its historical connections via our common goals.

"Summers with Lincoln" explores Abraham Lincoln's life and place in American culture, using as a vehicle the author's visits, with his students, to seven major Lincoln sculptures - Ball's "Emancipation Group" and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC; Manship's "Lincoln the Hoosier Youth" in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Bernard's Lincoln statue in Lytle Park, Cincinnati; Saint-Gauden's standing Lincoln in Lincoln Park, Chicago; Borglum's seated Lincoln in Newark, New Jersey; and Fraser's seated Lincoln in Bay View Cemetery, Jersey City. The result is an interesting and informative book on Lincoln that also imparts an impressive amount of American art history. It would be a useful guide for anyone visiting any of these monuments. The strongest chapter is the last, where Percoco presents the Lincoln Memorial as "the greatest collaboration in America between sculptor, architect and space."

Mr. Percoco offers wonderful insights into Abraham Lincoln the President and the ordinary man in taking us around the country to see statues erected to honor his memory. Not only do we learn about the importance of these monuments in remembering Mr. Lincoln, we learn of the artists that created them, the process they used to arrive at the image they created of him and the thoughts of the people during those periods in US history. The reader not only learns from Mr. Percoco, but learns from Mr. Percoco's students, past and present that shared this journey with him. A very enjoyable and informative book.

Summers with Lincoln: Looking for the Man in the Monuments

This book is a "must have" for anyone who is interested casually or seriously in Abraham Lincoln. It looks at the most studied President of the United States and yet adds new value through the dimension of his many memorials. It is both an insightful and novel approach. Percoco conceys Lincoln's character through interpretations of the monuments by getting inside the minds of Lincoln's many sculptors. It has relevance to modern experiences and the values of today's youthful scholars. It is based on a well-grounded, historical expertise and proceeds to rile up the reader's interest. It vibrantly captures the emotions and themes that were meant to be instilled by the creators of Lincoln's memorial scultures.

William N. Stryker
author and historian