This is a rare book that is bound to cause some controversy in the academic community. Printed by the University of Missouri, Magness and Page, through painstaking research have uncovered new evidence that definitively proves that Lincoln was actively pursuing colonization projects after the issuing of the emancipation proclamation. One of which was highly developed (British Honduras), and two others which are only know to have been in their infancy stage (Suriname and Guiana).
It is a well documented fact that Lincoln pursued colonization in his first two years. $600,000 had been set aside to fund such projects, Lincoln made speeches about it, he encouraged prominent black men to get on board with colonization and even convinced some to go to Île à Vache (which ended up in disaster). But after Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation, all colonization speech abruptly ended.
To explain this, historians have agreed on two arguments concerning Lincoln's views on race and colonization. The "lullaby thesis" and the "change of heart thesis." The lullaby thesis primarily argues that Lincoln was a supporter of colonization only as a means to trick slave states into adopting emancipation and then never seriously go through with colonization, so in other words to "lull" them. This of course ignores the fact that Lincoln was an active advocate of the America Colonization Society for most of his adult life, but some very distinguished historians subscribe to this.
The other explanation is that Lincoln had a sudden change of heart. The Île à Vache colony failed, the Republican party was mostly against colonization, Lincoln had trouble convincing free blacks to resettle and he saw that blacks could make good soldiers.
Therefor this book essentially argues against those two points. I don't want to write about every fact of the book, but in light of the new discoveries that Magness and Page made, it is much more plausible that Lincoln was still struggling with his beliefs on race and the future of blacks. Since the war was fought to reunite the country and not over black civil rights, Lincoln wrestled with how to repair the nation after the war. And if colonization could help that goal, he was a supporter of it. The book is in no way a screed or a condemnation about Lincoln, but it is a more accurate reflection on how he intellectualized race, one that is not as pretty or progressive as the Lincoln we learn about in school.
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