Abraham Lincoln: the Great Emancipator, savior of the Union, and
revered national hero. Jefferson Davis: defender of slavery, leader
of a lost cause, and forlorn object of scorn. Both Lincoln and
Davis remain locked in the American psyche as iconic symbols of
victory and defeat. They presided over a terrible war that decided
the fate of slavery and severely tested each man's resolve and
potential for greatness. But, as Brian Dirck shows, such images
tend to obscure the larger visions that compelled both men to
pursue policies and actions that resulted in such a devastating
national tragedy.
Going well beyond most conventional accounts, Dirck examines
Lincoln's and Davis's respective ideas concerning national
identity, highlighting the strengths and shortcomings of each
leader's worldview. By focusing on issues that have often been
overlooked in previous studies of Lincoln and Davis -- and of the
war in general -- he reveals the ways in which these two leaders
viewed that imagined community called the American nation.
The first comprehensive and detailed study to compare the two
men's national imaginations, Dirck's study provides a provocative
analysis of how their everyday lives -- the influence of fathers
and friends, jobs and homes -- worked in complex ways to shape
Lincoln's and Davis's perceptions of what the American nation was
supposed to be and could become and how those images could reject
or accommodate the institution of slavery.
Dirck contends that Lincoln subscribed to the notion of a
"nation of strangers" in which people never really knew one
another's hearts, reflecting his wariness of sentimental
attachment, while Davis held to a "community of sentiment" based
onhonor and comradeship that depended a great deal on emotional
bonding. As Dirck shows, these two ideals are very much a part of
the current national conversation -- among citizens, scholars, and
politicians -- that has brought Davis back into the fold of great
Americans while challenging many of the cliches that surround the
Lincoln myth.
Ultimately, Dirck argues, the imagined communities of these two
remarkable men transcend the experience of war to illuminate the
ongoing debates over what it means to be an American. Through this
engaging and original work, he urges a restoration of balance to
our understanding -- not only of Lincoln and Davis, but also of the
contributions made by North and South alike to those debates.
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