The Age of Lincoln (Hardcover)

by Orville Vernon Burton (Author) "FROM THE ROCKY SHORES of Maine to the Ohio Valley and beyond, men and women by the thousands rose up early on the morning of..." (more)
Key Phrases: yeoman women, enslaved property, southern home front, African Americans, South Carolina, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s The Age of Jackson appeared in 1945 and has been an enduringly popular work with general readers. Burton, [University Distinguished Teacher/Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] (In My Father's House Are Many Mansions), has written an ambitious sequel, or perhaps homage, on the age of Lincoln. Burton's intriguing thesis is that Lincoln's most profound achievement was not the abolition of slavery but the enshrinement of the principle of personal liberty protected by a body of law. Thus he elevated the founding fathers' (and Jackson's) more restricted vision to a universal one. The outbreak and course of the Civil War should be seen in the light of competing notions of what freedom meant, rather than (as has usually been the case) as a bloody conflict over black emancipation or states' rights. Lincoln, as Burton convincingly argues, both created his age and was a product of it: he matured in an America struggling with a rising free market and millennial impulses that sought Christian perfection. The ultimate result was the triumph of democratic capitalism. For readers seeking to comprehend the sweeping social, religious and cultural backdrop to the Civil War, Burton's book is a worthy heir to Schlesinger's. 8 pages of b&w illus.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Burton focuses on the five decades related to the presidency of Lincoln, beginning with the 1840s, chronicling in compelling detail the process of secession, the conduct of events in the course of the Civil War itself, and acts of reconstruction. The author examines all topics relevant to political, social, and economic life during that time, including slavery, racism, religion, the rapid growth of cities, and the expansion of secular cultures and the railroads. Adding another element to his thorough picture of the times, Burton profiles several leading figures, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, John Brown, John C. Calhoun, Frederick Douglass, General Winfield Scott, Booker T. Washington, and Mathew Brady. Augmented by eight pages of black-and-white illustrations, the book captures in excellent prose the early decades of modern American history. Cohen, George
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang; 1st edition (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809095130
• ISBN-13: 978-0809095131
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,950 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Educational, July 31, 2007

By	J. Morris - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just finished this book and really enjoyed it. In fact, I don't read history books all that often, but this book is very well written and easy to read. I expected to read about the differences between the North and the South, but I had never even thought about how the West fit into the picture. I expected to read about Civil War battles, but I liked the human interest side. I learned that Reconstruction formed an important part of America's history, and the sentiment of Reconstruction did not really end until the Supreme Court sanctioned segregation almost 30 years after the Civil War ended. Besides writing about the politics and culture of the times, the author put in interesting stories about different people. After finishing the book, I have great respect for Abraham Lincoln, and I found the idea that Lincoln was a Southerner both surprising and insightful. Lincoln is not the main character of the book, but his ideas had a huge impact on the coming of the Civil War, on the aftermath of war and how America developed. I recommend this book to anyone who an interest in history, scholars in academia, or those who are simply curious about the finest president of our country.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning achievment, September 2, 2007

By	Ben D. Campbell "Bookworm" (South Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Age of Lincoln" by Dr. Orville Vernon Burton is an insightful , hard headed , clear eyed look at the roots of the American Civil War , the path that led to eventual victory and the utter failure of Lincoln's successors to "win" the peace as decisively as he had won the war. This book is a stunning feat of original thinking, scholarship, and research. The depth and the breadth of the research is revealed in the many details of what was taking place in the political , social , religious and economic strata of American life during this tumultuous time. The weaving of these disparate elements into a cogent tapestry is a testament to Dr. Burton's scholarship. Dr. Burton's mastery of his voluminous research and his skill in writing a riveting narrative only enhances his standing as an American historian of the first order.

As Dr Burton shows the "original sin" of our founding fathers to face the question of slavery as a blot on the face of humanity in "The Declaration of Independence" and ""The Constitution" sowed the seeds that produced the bloody harvest of the Southern Rebellion. The evolution of President Lincoln's thinking of "The Emancipation Proclamation" as a strategic war maneuver to an act of basic humanity reflects Lincoln's antipathy towards slavery and his changing feelings on the equality of the races. While Lincoln was still evolving in his recognition of the equality of African Americans to the white's of America his legacy of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution ultimately redeemed the promise of the founding fathers.

Dr. Burton's book illustrates that just as slavery's darkest shadow lays across the trinity of our most precious documents, the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights Bill for almost a hundred years, the dark shadow of the Jim Crow era would eclipse the bright promise of Lincoln's legacy to mankind the 13th, 14th and15th amendment of the Constitution. Because of Lincoln's successors failures to stay the course with Reconstruction and the ultimate perversions of the Restoration and the Jim Crow era another hundred years of lynching, murder, degradation, economic slavery and forced migration faced African Americans most egregiously in the American south.
Dr. Burton's book also pounds the stake into the heart of the argument of the Civil War being fought over any thing but slavery. Over shadowing and intruding into all aspects of life during the arc of the age of Lincoln was slavery,slavery.slavery.


This book resonates with the passion that the American public had for public affairs during "The Age of Lincoln." This passion for the governance of their affairs was an on going concern not just a concern during the election cycles. This book could serve as a cautionary tale. The American public could do well to see past the "Roman Circus's" of sports , celebrity pap, unreal reality shows, egocentric pursuits of "me" and reevaluate some of the basic values so wisely enumerated in "The Age of Lincoln".

"The Age of Lincoln" is a very important book that would be a rewarding reading experience for anyone.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Refreshing and Relevant Look, October 14, 2007

By	crossofgold (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

The Age of Lincoln is a persuasive and unique interpretation of the events and ideas that reshaped the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Focused around the life and ideas of Abraham Lincoln, there is also successful incorporation of a range of other influential characters such as John Brown, Preston Brooks, Andrew Johnson, Frank Baum, and William Jennings Bryan. The book discusses and advances central themes of race, religion, and liberty, and provides a convincing and fresh interpretation of the circumstances around the American Civil War.

The author does a good job of illustrating the contrast and tension of the age. He uses interesting examples to explore central contrasts of white vs. black, slave vs. free, south vs. north, rich vs. poor and uses those contrasts as a lens to understand many of the motivations and events of the period. Interestingly, much of the discussion of Lincoln's commitment to liberty that motivated him to wage the American Civil War eerily contrasts to the ideas of liberty and freedom advanced by another Republican president to justify a quite different war.

Overall, the book does an excellent job of relating the tensions and interests of the people in the ante bellum period, the events and struggles during the war, the reconstructive efforts afterwards, and it concludes persuasively by connecting these events to the rise of populism and the ascension of the corporation during the beginning of the 20th century. The Age of Lincoln is a refreshing and engaging interpretation of important historical events that remain relevant to this day.