Word: lincolnisms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Shenk’s ability to weave a compelling narrative is indeed the book’s greatest strength. He offers a sort of “E! True Hollywood Story” behind nearly every major event so famously associated with Lincoln...
...character of Lincoln in Shenk’s book is one who deprecated himself after his hugely successful speech to financial leaders at Cooper Union’s Great Hall in New York in 1860, who wrote dismal verses about death and suicide, who emanated sorrow that at once frightened and attracted people near...
Like this version of the book’s hero, Shenk is humble, recognizing his own limits as a historian. Referring to some historians’ claims that Lincoln was homosexual, Shenk doesn’t rule out such a possibility, but writes that “with people in history, our understanding is limited by available texts. Intuition and common sense can help, but only if they’re leavened by an awareness that the world we see ‘onstage’ is different from the world we live in.” The fact that...
When he writes of Lincoln’s views on slavery, Shenk is just as sensitive to Lincoln’s cultural environment. Shenk acknowledges that Lincoln was in no way fighting in favor of equal rights for African-Americans—only for the abolition of slavery as an institution...
...Perhaps this is because Lincoln tempered his depressive episodes as a public figure and older man. But the reader is left with the impression that many qualities separate from Lincoln’s depression—including his persistence and his famous lack of malice toward the South—contributed more to his greatness...