Lincoln: Speeches and Writings: Volume 2: 1859-1865 (Library of America) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A momentous and thrilling addition to any private library. -- Alfred Kazin, New York Times Book Review

The best selection of Lincoln's writings available today, perhaps the best ever ... the English language at its finest ... turn to this handsome set. -- Christian Science Monitor

Product Description

Lincoln measured the promise--and cost--of American freedom in lucid and extraordinarily moving prose. Here in this two volume set ("Speeches and Writings 1859-1865" and "Speeches and Writings 1832-1858"), are all the significant works, including the complete Lincoln-Douglas debates, dozens of speeches, hundreds of personal and political letters, communications to generals in the field, presidential messages and proclamations, poems, and private reflections on democracy, slavery, and the meaning of the Civil War's immense suffering.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 788 pages
• Publisher: Library of America (October 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940450631
• ISBN-13: 978-0940450639
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,309 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leadership and Eloquence, September 14, 2000

By	Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is the second volume of the Library of America Project devoted to the works of Abraham Lincoln. It covers the period after the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and includes many of the records of the Lincoln Presidency and the Civil War. The standard Lincoln materials are included, of course, such as the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Inauguaral Addresses. But there is immeasurably more. We see Lincoln writing to his Generals, Cabinet members, and other national leaders in his attempt to hold the Union together. We see a lincolns agonizing over military discipline and frequently pardoning deserting soldiers. We see Lincoln dealing with Indian issues in his day; and we see him supporting the use of black troops in the War effort. This volume is highly useful in uderstanding the Civil War. Equally important it teaches the nature of leadership and fortitude. Finally, Lincoln is one of our Nation's great prose writers and the book deserves reading for that reason alone. The Library of America is to be commended for this volume and for its ongoing series.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great volume covering Lincoln's Presidency & the Civil War, May 10, 2005

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This volume provides Lincoln's speeches, writings and selected letters from 1859 through 1865. This period is the year leading up to his election in 1860 through his assassination in 1865. You will get to read amazing letters from the commander-in-chief trying to get his generals to fight and win the war, letters to all kinds of people covering topics public and personal, proclamations suspending habeas corpus and emancipation, his addresses to congress (our State-of-the Union Addresses used to be delivered by letter to Congress), and some of the greatest treasures in American history: the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. It is stunning that in all this writing, so much of it powerful and worthwhile, that these two brief speeches so obviously deserve to be engraved in stone for all ages to read and take into their souls.

It is awfully moving to read the material related to the conduct of the Civil War. He was very strong in his determination to destroy the Rebellion, yet he has very touching notes about his sick child and is very human in his communications with intimates.

This volume also has a chronology of Lincoln's life and great notes on the texts. Note particularly the Associated Press copy of the Gettysburg Address that was contemporary with its delivery. The version most of us know is a finished copy prepared for publication. The differences are subtle and not all that important, just interesting to note for style and rhetorical power.

I strongly urge you to have these two volumes on your American History bookshelf. Simply, they are important and you will learn a great deal reading through them.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lincoln, I Hardly Knew Ye, February 3, 2009

By	Corinthius (Up-Upstate NY) - See all my reviews

I thought I was fairly well informed on Abraham Lincoln but reading his actual words often left me quite surprised. For example, we all know Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. We don't hear so often about his proposed plans to resettle freed slaves in Central America or the Caribbean. This collection is great as it provides a summary of Lincoln's writings before and during the course of the Civil War and shows his progression in thought and leadership. Highly Recommended!