Lincoln and Race
Hunter, John P.
Lincoln and Race THE FIERY TRIAL, by Herbert Mitgang. Viking Press. 207 pp. $7.95. reviewed by John P. Hunter Fourteen years ago, at the beginning of the observance of the Civil War...
...Mitgang tackles this astigmatic thesis head on, and his analysis is one of the most valuable portions of the book...
...reviewed by John P. Hunter Fourteen years ago, at the beginning of the observance of the Civil War Centennial, historian Richard N. Current, a Lincoln scholar and author of The Lincoln Nobody Knows, predicted that the Lincoln theme will not soon, if ever, be exhausted...
...My impression is that their objection rises from the disordered condition of my hair...
...Mitgang, a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, has written and edited several other books about Lincoln, including Abraham Lincoln A Press Portrait and Washington D.C...
...but it would be a mistake, as Mitgang reemphasizes, to view that great central fact of Lincoln's Administration as mere opportunism...
...The least substantial chapter in an otherwise excellent book deals with the contradictions and the paradoxes surrounding the assassination...
...Mitgang details the drama and the essential meaning of the 1858 Lincoln- Douglas debates that were to make Lincoln a national figure...
...Journalisthistorian Herbert Mitgang's latest contribution to historical scholarship is a welcome affirmation of Current's thesis...
...In "Lincoln's Image in Our World," Mitgang reviews the harsh criticism leveled at Lincoln, both at home and abroad, during much of his Presidential period...
...The illustrations include Alexander Gardner's haunting photograph of a careworn Lincoln taken shortly before his death...
...The battle for emancipation later turned into " t h e far more complex struggle for equal rights and civil rights in the Twentieth Century, plus the even more fundamental struggle within the hearts and minds of both races on racism," Mitgang writes...
...One of the unwelcome spinoffs of the welcome new militancy in black historical scholarship has been an effort to portray Lincoln as a racist...
...He served with the Wisconsin Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission and the Wisconsin Civil War Centennial Commission...
...but it would be a mistake, as Mitgang reemphasizes, to view that great central fact of Lincoln's Administration as mere opportunism...
...Stephen A. Douglas sought and largely failed to portray Lincoln as an extremist and a Negro-lover...
...Mitgang details the drama and the essential meaning of the 1858 Lincoln- Douglas debates that were to make Lincoln a national figure...
...Mitgang tackles this astigmatic thesis head on, and his analysis is one of the most valuable portions of the book...
...Lincoln and Race THE FIERY TRIAL, by Herbert Mitgang...
...The Fiery Trial is a little gem that sets the record straight on Lincoln's racial views and places them in the context of both Lincoln's time and our own...
...Standing alone, the words do...
...Mitgang writes a sensitive chapter on Mary Todd Lincoln and the tragic afteryears...
...Lincoln was a political pragmatist, and the timing of the Emancipation Proclamation accentuated that characteristic...
...John Patrick Hunter, associate editor of The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, is a former president of both the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin and the Civil War Round Table in Madison...
...Not the least of the charm of The Fiery Trial is the inclusion of more than thirty excellent photographs...
...But Mitgang reviews Lincoln's total record on racism, and it spells out a convincing refutation of the charges that Lincoln was a "white honkie...
...Hesler likeness a "very good one...
...That critical view in the foreign press largely changed after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on New Year's Day, 1863...
...Mitgang tackles this astigmatic thesis head on, and his analysis is one of the most valuable portions of the book...
...The battle for emancipation later turned into " t h e far more complex struggle for equal rights and civil rights in the Twentieth Century, plus the even more fundamental struggle within the hearts and minds of both races on racism," Mitgang writes...
...Lincoln was a political pragmatist, and the timing of the Emancipation Proclamation accentuated that characteristic...
...but it would be a mistake, as Mitgang reemphasizes, to view that great central fact of Lincoln's Administration as mere opportunism...
...Stephen A. Fourteen years ago, at the beginning of the observance of the Civil War Centennial, historian Richard N. Current, a Lincoln scholar and author of The Lincoln Nobody Knows, predicted that the Lincoln theme will not soon, if ever, be exhausted...
...His Presidential sanction of the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and his failure to curb arrests of antiwar Copperheads take a little of the gloss off the Lincoln image...
...Journalisthistorian Herbert Mitgang's latest contribution to historical scholarship is a welcome affirmation of Current's thesis...
...Mitgang details the drama and the essential meaning of the 1858 Lincoln- Douglas debates that were to make Lincoln a national figure...
...They have been spelled out far more compellingly by that great historical detective, Otto Eisenschiml, in his captivating Why Was Lincoln Murdered...
...Journalisthistorian Herbert Mitgang's latest contribution to historical scholarship is a welcome affirmation of Current's thesis...
...A happy addition is the seldompublished photograph by Alexander Hesler, taken in 1857, the second picture of Lincoln known to have been made...
...Douglas stung Lincoln, and Lincoln regrettably reacted in one of their historic encounters with harsh words that have comforted racists ever since...
...One of the unwelcome spinoffs of the welcome new militancy in black historical scholarship has been an effort to portray Lincoln as a racist...
...The Fiery Trial is a little gem that sets the record straight on Lincoln's racial views and places them in the context of both Lincoln's time and our own...
...It is an affectionate portrait undoubtedly influenced by the splendid work by Justin and Linda Turner...
...The battle for emancipation later turned into " t h e far more complex struggle for equal rights and civil rights in the Twentieth Century, plus the even more fundamental struggle within the hearts and minds of both races on racism," Mitgang writes...
...One of the unwelcome spinoffs of the welcome new militancy in black historical scholarship has been an effort to portray Lincoln as a racist...
...The Fiery Trial is a little gem that sets the record straight on Lincoln's racial views and places them in the context of both Lincoln's time and our own...
...It shows a tousle-headed, cleareyed Lincoln...
...in Lincoln's Time...
...Lincoln wrote that he considered th...
...The Fiery Trial is a valuable addition to Lincolniana...
...Stephen A. Fourteen years ago, at the beginning of the observance of the Civil War Centennial, historian Richard N. Current, a Lincoln scholar and author of The Lincoln Nobody Knows, predicted that the Lincoln theme will not soon, if ever, be exhausted...
...though my wife and many others do not...
...Lincoln was a political pragmatist, and the timing of the Emancipation Proclamation accentuated that characteristic...
...Lincoln does not escape without warts in the Mitgang volume...
Vol. 38 • December 1974 • No. 12
