And that is Meacham’s deadly serious point.NOW HEAR THIS! Fellow Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine veterans from Greater Cleveland – please read and heed. But can Lincoln do the work Meacham sets for him? Can a man who took part in the final genocidal clash of White settlers with Indians east of the Mississippi rally a multiethnic democracy to the flag? Can a man who opposed Black citizenship until the end of his life mobilize a diverse coalition of voters? What, moreover, does Lincoln’s moral North Star - the Declaration’s ringing promise of equality for all - mean today? Does it mean higher progressive tax rates for the 1 percent, or perhaps more student debt relief? Does it mean an end to race-based government action, or a rededication of the nation to the principle that Black lives matter? Is the next Lincoln a teenager who wants action on climate change - but is prepared to make compromises in bringing the world closer to carbon neutrality? Faced with such challenges, we owe it to one another to pray we do our best. stands for the claim that the demigods of American historical mythology, Lincoln foremost among them, can help us carve paths through our forbidding 21st-century wilderness. Meacham’s lucid account nicely captures the religious framework with which Lincoln approached the most difficult decisions of his presidency. But it boasts more than 200 additional pages of endnotes and bibliography in support of an interpretation of Lincoln that focuses on the moral life of the politician and statesman.
The book is not especially long for a contemporary biography it clocks in at just over 400 pages of text. It is thoroughly researched and highly readable, written with all the artful craftsmanship of a veteran writer and editor. The book aims to recraft a usable mythology of Lincoln for political leaders in the 21st century, when dissension and loose talk of civil war have returned. Meacham’s new Lincoln is not just a text it is an event. an account of the life of the United States’ 16th president that is worldly and spiritual, and carefully tailored to suit our conflict-ridden times.
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