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Book Reviews These are some reviews from a recent issue of
The Civil War News:
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Abraham Lincoln, President-Elect: The Four Critical Months from Election to Inauguration
by Larry D. Mansch
Illustrated, maps, notes, bibliography, index, 238 pp., 2005. McFarland & Company, Inc., Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640, $45 plus shipping.
William Henry Herndon, Abraham Lincoln’s former law partner, once wrote that Lincoln’s ambition was “a little engine that knew no rest.” In Abraham Lincoln, President-Elect: The Four Critical Months from Election to Inauguration, Larry D. Mansch, examines that driving ambition — and determination — in an admirable and engaging way by examining the events leading to Lincoln’s residence in the White House. In the Preface, Mansch states his theme to be not so much the events of the election-to-inauguration interim so much as the fact that in the face of such unparalleled turmoil and uncertainty, president-elect Lincoln remained a simple prairie lawyer. In that, he failed, because what his book really shows, and shows quite well, is a four-month crucible that transformed Lincoln from the substratum of the simple to the pantheon of greatness. In Abraham Lincoln as President Elect, the reader sees some of the most exciting moments in Lincoln’s life: the test of his character and will in forming his cabinet with former rivals; the length and substance of the inaugural journey, including an examination of the things he did and did not say along the way; his avoidance of Baltimore to thwart an assassination attempt, which humiliated him; and, through it all, Lincoln’s formulation of a strategy to handle the crisis. In this we see Lincoln’s great will in his refusal to endorse a “peace plan,” his refusal to surrender Fort Sumter and his firm stance on his position. As Mansch shows, it was Lincoln’s position that people found so problematic, for he never stated it explicitly in those four months, even though the North wanted words and the South refused to listen. Mansch shows Lincoln as measured and cautious, resolute and confident in his actions; this is even reflected in the photo of Lincoln on the book’s cover that shows Lincoln with nascent beard and the glare of determination in his eyes. Abraham Lincoln as President Elect opens with the most well-written, and enthralling, part of this book: the Prologue, “Honest Old Abe of the West,” which makes the reader not see, but experience, the Springfield celebration on the night of Lincoln’s Republican nomination for president. The intrigue and readability continue throughout the book, though without the same amount of passion. Mansch does a good job of understanding Northern and Southern sides of thought about both Lincoln and secession after the 1860 election, and offers an objective examination. The book is undoubtedly written for a popular, rather than academic, audience, in that it is not an examination of the historic minutiae, but a general history of the moment, an overarching description of themes and people and events. Mansch’s footnotes are mostly from secondary sources, previous articles and books about Lincoln, although he does make good use of contemporary newspaper reports, letters and journals. Mansch offers up a solid book, enticing to read, well handled in its content and scope, and measured in its intent. It is a good starting place from which to understand the president-elect period of Lincoln’s life and move on to other books of greater detail.
Jason Emerson
Journalist Jason Emerson has worked as a National Park Service interpretive ranger at the Lincoln Home in Springfield, Ill., at Gettysburg and in St. Louis. His writings about Lincoln and book reviews have appeared in Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, The Marlboro Review and elsewhere.
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