From the countless popular accounts, we all know something of Lincoln’s life. What sets this book apart is the attempt to explain him in a very full historical context, as both a product of popular culture and later, its shaper. The result is a consistently interesting and surprising book that gets much closer to who the greatest American president was, both busting myths and exploring the truths behind the images.
First, according to Reynolds, from his family history, Lincoln embodied the cultural divide that threatened to split the Union. On the one hand, there were the immigrant Lincolns of New England, Puritan Yankees, followers of Oliver Cromwell, the revolutionary leader of the English civil war of the mid 17th century. The Puritans became a chief source of Abolitionism, which viewed slavery as an evil that had to be eliminated by whatever means necessary, and were largely of democratic temperament. On the other hand, the Lincolns, with Quaker influences, migrated to Virginia. There they found a south made of “Cavaliers”, who lived by a code of martial honor, viewing themselves as “knights”. Southeners imagined themselves aristocrats, scorning meddlesome northerners with their moral considerations and “love” of the negro. Both northerners and southerners, of course, entertained the notion that God had anointed them to their roles and was on their side, about which Lincoln was a drily skeptical.
Second, as a child of the frontier, Lincoln came to see the Puritan v. Cavaliers cultures in attenuated form, more flexible and far less entrenched than the divisions were in the east. Nonetheless, he was acutely aware of their characteristics, which he sought to navigate from an early age.
Third, from direct observation of the slave trade when he worked a Mississippi barge, Lincoln became a radical opponent of slavery, an opinion he kept to himself for most of his career. He thought, according to Reynolds, that it must be abolished as an institution, though not at the cost of destroying the Union. While Reynolds is at pains to prove he did not indulge in the racist mentality common to his time (or perhaps evolved beyond it during his presidency), I think that point is a bit too hard of a sell.
Fourth, if he did not grow up poor, Lincoln had to work hard to establish his career and wandered through such a wide range of occupations – from farming to the law – that he could empathize with the popular man as well as the self-made elites. This would be a key to his later political successes. It is true that he studied politics in Illinois from the vantage of the frontier grocery store and post office, the principal gathering place of each region. He really was a good fighter when physically challenged, though given the brutalities of the frontier, where for example eye gouging was normal and cheered on, preferred to avoid hurting people whenever possible.
Fifth, because he was considered homely and gawky, he learned to play off his appearance to defuse tensions as well as draw attention to what he had to say. In this, he took a cue from PT Barnum, whose methods of publicity he studied. He learned to tell stories and anecdotes to political purpose with particular inspiration, a sign of his extraordinarily clear focus on goals and final outcomes, which enabled him to get past personal slights and avoid vendettas. Finally, he also chose to build on the images of the “rail splitter”, Honest Abe, etc.
Sixth, due perhaps to a combination of genetics and experience, Lincoln was prone to periodic depression and came close to committing suicide during at least one episode. Reynolds goes into great detail on this aspect of his life, relating it to family losses, deaths of loved ones (in particular an early love) and how he overcame it with the help of friends and his own sense of purpose and ambition. Reynolds also addresses the issue of Lincoln’s sexuality, which he asserts was very clearly hetero.
Seventh, as a lawyer, he sought to first solve problems before they went to trial, by negotiation and compromise, by seeing the merits of both sides and working with them to overcome divisiveness. Reynolds expresses this delicate balance in reference to Blondin, a famous tightrope walker of the time who carried people over Niagara Falls, which became a staple of political cartoons regarding the issues that Lincoln faced. This represented a unique and great political skill.
Eighth, as a politician, Lincoln developed a sense of timing that was both studied and intuitive. Carefully following events and gauging public opinion, he developed criteria regarding when to take decisions and act, often soliciting input from colleagues and friends, but in the end depending on his gut. This enabled him to play chess over his political career, with an eye on his long-term goals and the “common good”.
Finally, from his storytelling, his extraordinarily wide reading, and his legal profession, Lincoln became a first-rate writer who drew from these sources. Much of his talk on equality, for example, came from the volumes of Euclid that he carried on the law circuit, at least according to Reynolds. This enabled him to invent an entirely new form of political discourse in both the Gettysburg address and the second inaugural speech, i.e. getting the audience to see things in a new way through plain language and spreading the word through newspaper reprints of exceptional density and succinctness.
Setting out these talents and characteristics in a list seems too analytic, now that I see them on the page. In this book, the reader gains a feel for them from Lincoln’s life and writings, more as a fallible man than a heroic icon, who nonetheless emerges as a remarkable individual and even a providential man. Perhaps it is difficult to imagine, but without him the outcome of the Civil War and our subsequent national history could have been very different.
Lincoln chose to fight to maintain the Union and then to abolish slavery, but he did so with a judiciousness and patience that are astonishing, even in a master politician. Having thought through many of the issues he faced, Lincoln waited for the right time to realize and implement them in unique actions and pronouncements. For example, the Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln waited until he felt the nation was ready for it, a combination of immediate necessity (to rally the country behind a renewed war effort) and yet more because it was the right thing to do.
How he changed our culture, according to Reynolds, is to have preserved the Union in a way that we now think of the United States as a single country – described with an “is” rather than the plural “are” that was employed before the Civil War. In addition, Lincoln broadened the idea of the Declaration’s “all men are created equal” to include all races rather than the exclusively white-male interpretation that many held. Finally, he eliminated slavery forever, enshrining the Emancipation Proclamation into the 13thAmendment, which of course was unevenly implemented as the legacy of Jim Crow revealed. Beyond culture, he was also the author of innumerable policy innovations, from establishing national parks to extending the reach of the state into everyday life by such measures as the personal income tax.
This is an outstanding biography of the most-written-about man in history, on a par with Team of Rivals. I was utterly riveted from the first pages. There is not a single dry patch in the entire book even as it reaches the highest academic standards. A masterpiece: fresh, revelatory, shrewd. Lincoln was a remarkable man in uncountable ways, an innovator and courageous fighter who knew how to bring policies from within the government.
Having just read that tRump claims he "would have negotiated" the Civil War, your review has just driven home that among the other things he has destroyed, he has completely driven out any enjoyment I can derive from irony.