A new book--and companion to the Steven Spielberg film--tracing
how Abraham Lincoln came to view slavery . . . and came to end
it.
Steven Spielberg focused his movie Lincoln on the sixteenth
president's tumultuous final months in office, when he pursued a
course of action to end the Civil War, reunite the country, and
abolish slavery. Invited by the filmmakers to write a special
Lincoln book as a companion to the film, Harold Holzer, the
distinguished historian and a consultant on the movie, now gives us
a fast-paced, exciting new book on Lincoln's life and times, his
evolving beliefs about slavery, and how he maneuvered to end
it.
The story starts on January 31, 1865--less than three months
before Lincoln's assassination--as the president anxiously awaits
word on whether Congress will finally vote to pass the Thirteenth
Amendment to the Constitution. Although the Emancipation
Proclamation two years earlier had authorized the army to liberate
slaves in Confederate territory, only a Constitutional amendment
passed by Congress and ratified by three-fourths of the states
would end slavery legally everywhere in the country.
Drawing from letters, speeches, memoirs, and documents by
Lincoln and others, Holzer goes on to cover Lincoln's boyhood, his
moves from Kentucky to Indiana to Illinois, his work as a lawyer
and congressman, his unsuccessful candidacies for the U.S. Senate
and his victory in two presidential elections, his arduous duties
in the Civil War as commander in chief, his actions as president,
and his relationships with his family, political rivals, and
associates. Holzer provides a fresh view of America in those
turbulent times, as well as fascinating insights into the
challenges Lincoln faced as he weighed his personal beliefs against
his presidential duties in relation to the slavery issue.
The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment would become the
crowning achievement of Abraham Lincoln's life and the undisputed
testament to his political genius. By viewing his life through this
prism, Holzer makes an important passage in American history come
alive for readers of all ages.
The book also includes thirty historical photographs, a
chronology, a historical cast of characters, texts of selected
Lincoln writings, a bibliography, and notes.
General
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