Customer Reviews

Vindicating Lincoln: Defending the Politics of Our Greatest President

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The best book of its kind -- and for now the only one of its kind.

Vindicating Lincoln is a most necessary corrective to the raft of atrocious, mendacious, and vindictive anti-Lincoln scholarship that has cropped up over the last 25 years at least. A perverse alliance has been forged between, on the one hand, far right libertarians and neo-Confederates and, on the other hand, far left politically correct and anti-American ideologues. They may not agree on much, but they agree that they have found a villain for all seasons: Abraham Lincoln.

This is the book for you if you have ever been puzzled by the arguments that Lincoln was a "tyrant," a "racist," the "father of big government," or that Lincoln cared nothing about slavery but fought the Civil War only protect the economic interests of the ruling class. This is also the book for you if all you know of Lincoln is his grand monument and the afterglow of his once great reputation, and want an honest assessment of why generations considered him the greatest American of them all -- greater even than Washington or any of the Founding generation.

Every anti-Lincoln myth is carefully stated, and understood exactly as its proponents wish to be understood, and then patiently demolished.

This is also perhaps the best book in a generation on the Civil War -- its causes, its justice, its necessity. Krannawitter clearly describes every step in the long path that led to war, and elucidates every controversy. He does justice to both sides, knowing full well that doing full justice to the arguments of the Confederate side not only serves intellectual honesty, but better illuminates the truthfulness and righteousness of Lincoln's case.

The Civil War was a necessary war, and Abraham Lincoln was a great man. It has a taken many years and an unholly alliance of liars and cranks to muddy the waters. But this one book will clear them up again, for all those who have eyes to see and a brain to think.

I strongly recommend this book. There has been an enormous attempt on the part of the libertarian movement to distort the history of the Civil War to say it was all about economic control and a stronger central government, based on revelations about our government's mismanagement of 20th century wars. The new popular myth is that the South represented freedom and the North oppression, a childish stereotype that isn't even true, since the South had slavery! Thomas Krannawitter presents a very well-researched, well-documented rebuttal of myths such as that Lincoln was a power maniac, that the North was the aggressor in the war and the South's secession about tariffs (the one they claim caused the war actually wasn't passed until after the secession!), and that the South represented freedom and the North oppression. I have never seen such twisted reasoning as the kind that Krannawitter quotes and deals with in detail. He covers all of the major attacks on Lincoln, and I came away from the book feeling much more educated and prepared to defend the President we rightly call "The Great Emancipator". It is a tedious book to read, rather verbose and sometimes too philosophical, but the benefits of reading it far outweigh the difficulty of getting through it.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

These words from the Declaration of Independence are the heart and soul of Abraham Lincoln's political philosophy. Based on the idea of government as a social contract--a government of the people, by the people, and for the people--they express the concept of natural rights.

Thomas L. Krannawitter, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Hillsdale College (Michigan), writes: "Saving the Union of the Constitution, preserving free elections, and placing slavery in the course of ultimate extinction were the goals for which Lincoln fought the Civil War. Unifying and justifying all of them is the principle that all men are created equal."

Krannawitter's brilliant work of scholarship is a devastating critique of historicism, revisionism, libertarianism, multiculturalism, and postmodernism--modern theories of government and morality that embrace relativism and deny the principle of equal rights.

Again, Professor Krannawitter writes, "Lincoln was consistent and unswerving in his demand that freedom, choice, and self-government be understood within the moral and political framework of the 'laws of nature and of Nature's God,' first and foremost in the natural right principle of human equality."

Lincoln's admirable statesmanship is in grave danger in the 21st century. Dr. Krannawitter clearly shows not only the relevance and importance of Lincoln's commitment to human equality for his own day, during the desperate days of the Civil War when the very existence of the Union was in peril, but also for our nation and world today.

Great men and women become the targets of those of lesser intelligence and meaner spirits. The greater the person, the more vicious the attacks. This has been true in the case of Lincoln. In recent decades, misguided and/or disgruntled critics have disparaged Lincoln for being a "tyrant," a "dictator," a proponent of "big government," a "war criminal," and a power-hungry despot who sought to destroy the Constitution.

Vindicating Lincoln should go a long way in dispelling such "Lincoln myths" that disparage our greatest president.

Two thumbs up for this magnificent work. Bravo, Mr. Krannawitter!

The book should have been called the lies of Thomas J. DiLorenzo. This book debunks all the half truths, and cherry picking and total lies of DiLorenzo. For someone that hates Lincoln as much as DiLorenzo, he sure is making the money off of Lincoln. The book goes into other subjects besides the ignorance of DiLorenzo, but if you bought The Real Lincoln, you need to read this book to get to the truth of the matter.

Make no mistake, this is not an unemotional analysis of the contemporary attacks on Lincoln, most or all of which are made by writers who are Libertarian or even neo-Confederate in their political views. The book is instead a passionate advocate's brief that seeks not merely to answer but to obliterate the anti-Lincoln arguments. Nor is Krannawitter respectful of the ostensible scholarship of the various proponents of these arguments. He tries to show that they are highly selective in their use of evidence, are not above stretching and twisting facts and are often unhistorical in their analysis of the past. Krannawitter is completely convinced that Lincoln was a great president and a good man who was devoted to what he considered to be a foundational American principle: That all men are created equal and endowed with certain natural rights.

Each of the chapters of the book discusses one of the main arguments raised by the Lincoln critics. So far as I can tell, Krannawitter plays fair in that he accurately sets out these anti-Lincoln arguments and the evidence offered to support them. Then he offers evidence and argument trying mercilessly to eviscerate the attacks on Lincoln (and sometimes the attacker as well).

To me, at least, some of the anti-Lincoln arguments seem to be easy targets (e. g. Lincoln as the "father" of modern Big Government; the Civil War was about oppressive economic policies favoring the North and not at all about slavery). Others are not so easy (e. g. was Lincoln a racist; was the Kansas-Nebraska Act pro-choice or pro-slavery). This is not the place to rehash the arguments. The reader can read them and make his or her own choice. I will say that for me Krannawitter's arguments are far the better.

The book is very well written. Arguments and facts, sometimes complicated, are clearly described. The prose moves pretty fluidly for the most part and is written with partisan passion. The book is fascinating and well worth reading, especially for readers who may not be familiar with the contemporary attacks on Lincoln.

Never have I seen American Political Theory being explained with such clarity to the modern reader within the framework of Abraham Lincoln's Presidency. The wrong reasons to like Lincoln and the wrong reasons to hate Lincoln are clearly explained. Thomas DiLorenzo's name came up enough times in this book that I felt maybe an apt subtitle for the book would be 'Unmasking the tricks of Thomas DiLorenzo'. But that would make the book relevant only to people who know Thomas DiLorenzo. And that would be like explaining light by describing the darkness that surrounds it. The subtitle 'Defending the Politics of Our Greatest President' on the other hand is like explaining light by its brightness. Leonard Read used to say that 'Darkness has absolutely no resistance to light.' Here is light dispelling darkness.

This book is excellent. It provided me a greater understanding of the nature of politics. The book lays out how Lincoln moved the country toward the rejection of slavery. Lincoln's focus on God give rights made me reflect on the importance of the Declaration of Independence and why it goes way beyond just proclaiming independence from England. As his speeches evolved over time you can see how Lincoln slowly moved the country closer and closer to his point of view. He knew he could not rail against it because the mind set of the country was not prepared to reject it and he would have failed. The book does a nice job laying this out and debunking the myths about Lincoln. I came away with an entirely new out look on politicians, how they craft their messages to win over minds and how the message subtlety changes and you find yourself somewhere you may not have intended to go. The re fences are very good and the author breaks down why the assertions of other historians are wrong. I left with a greater understanding of Lincoln and his greatness as a leader. Hat tip to Mr. Krannawitter!

This is an excellent book to read on President Abraham Lincoln. It gives you both sides of the controversy and lets you see through to the truth, that President Lincoln was the greatest president we have ever had. This is a MUST read for anyone working their way through american history, politcs and interpreting the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Very educational.

This is an extended argument by an academic historian against the various ideas of a few opinion leaders in modern America who have disparaged the reputation of our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln. Some of the detractors are modern Libertarians, with an axe to grind against any big government. Others detest Mr. Lincoln for what they see to have been his blatant and unwarranted abuses of civil liberties during the Civil War. Still others (FDR liberals) love Mr. Lincoln, but for the wrong reasons.


I found the strongest part of this book to be its explanation and refutation of the political and intellectual contortions made by Senator John C. Calhoun both in defending a state's "right of secession" and explaining why slavery was good for the slave.

This book falters when Professor Krannawitter brings too much of his argument into the realm of present day politics. (I do not think Senator Obama's thoughts on Lincoln would have been negatively cited, but for this being a presidential election year.) The author is obviously a small government, natural rights conservative, which is fine--but his unrelenting style will wear on readers who might buy this book looking for a more balanced defense of someone who, in reality, should need no defense.

To quote from the review by Stewart L. Winger, a serious and much-published Lincoln scholar (not an ideologue):

"Krannawitter makes little pretense of bringing new sources to bear on his topic. That might not be fatal were he engaged in a significant and original reinterpretation of Lincoln and his time. But there is nothing new about Lincoln here. As the introduction and chapter 4 make clear, Krannawitter instead uses recent controversies surrounding Lincoln as a launch pad for a set of op-ed pieces promoting the cultural politics of the followers of Leo Strauss. The book reveals more about them than it does about Lincoln. As it relates to Lincoln, the standard Straussian polemic was articulated most clearly by Harry Jaffa in the 1950s, has remained essentially unchanged since, and hardly needs rearticulating now. Following Jaffa in the 1950s, who scooped an historical profession then mired in the "revisionist school" by reclaiming Lincoln's principled politics, Krannawitter denounces the historical profession for its continued failure to adequately emphasize how and why Lincoln was right and everyone around him was wrong. Though Krannawitter correctly detects persistent revisionism in David Donald and Michael Holt, it is hardly news, and he slights the work of the historical profession by inadequately surveying current views before writing his criticisms."

Krannawitter is a young professor, and Winger gives him some useful advice: "In typical Straussian fashion, Krannawitter shadowboxes with an imaginary fifth column of nihilists. The book is replete with straw men whom Krannawitter sets up as representatives of the standard view. In fact Krannawitter has barely even touched the standard historiography on the founding, the Civil War, and even Lincoln. This literature is far richer, more nuanced, and more truthful than he imagines. He would do well to purchase The Blackwell Companion to the Civil War and Reconstruction, read it, and follow its leads through the literature. He would doubtless find the "historicism" intolerable, but at least he would then be arguing with the leading literature rather than flailing at randomly chosen scholarship that is often marginal and frequently out of date."