Lincoln and the Jews, Benjamin Shapell
Lincoln and the Jews, Benjamin Shapell
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Lincoln and the Jews
A History

Author: Benjamin Shapell, Jonathan D. Sarna

Narrator: David Colacci

Unabridged: 8 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/09/2015


Synopsis

One hundred and fifty years after Abraham Lincoln's death, the full story of his extraordinary relationship with Jews is told here for the first time. Lincoln and the Jews: A History provides listeners both with a captivating narrative of his interactions with Jews and and the opportunity to immerse themselves in rare manuscripts.

Lincoln's lifetime coincided with the emergence of Jews on the national scene in the United States. When he was born, in 1809, scarcely 3,000 Jews lived in the entire country. By the time of his assassination in 1865, large-scale immigration had brought that number up to more than 150,000. Many Americans were alarmed by this development and treated Jews as second-class citizens and religious outsiders. Lincoln exhibited precisely the opposite tendency. He befriended Jews from a young age, promoted Jewish equality, appointed numerous Jews to public office, had Jewish advisers and supporters starting already from the early 1850s, as well as later during his two presidential campaigns. Through his actions and his rhetoric—replacing "Christian nation," for example, with "this nation under God"—he embraced Jews as insiders.

The volume uncovers a new and previously unknown feature of Abraham Lincoln's life, one that broadened him, and, as a result, broadened America.

About Benjamin Shapell

Benjamin Shapell is the founder of the Shapell Manuscript Foundation, an independent educational organization whose collection includes original documents of world-renowned individuals. He has written articles on Lincoln, other American presidents, and Mark Twain. He also initiated and oversaw the creation of exhibitions and films relating to the central themes of the collection. The foundation has partnered in exhibitions with major institutions, including the Library of Congress, the Morgan Library & Museum, the New-York Historical Society, the National Library of Israel, and the Smithsonian Institution.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Desirae on November 30, 2023

I purchased this book on a whim as the title and subject matter interested me. I'm certainly glad I did as it revealed an amazingly oft missed connection between Abraham Lincoln and the Jews in America at the time. The story begins with Abraham Lincoln's childhood and an explanation of how his parent......more

Goodreads review by Stuart on December 12, 2021

For those who are fascinated by Abraham Lincoln’s character and personal history this magnificent book is essential reading. At a time when the use of antisemitic stereotypes was endemic in America Lincoln’s belief in equality and his fundamental goodness resulted in his repeated interactions with J......more

Goodreads review by Nathan on June 11, 2017

As someone who reads a lot of books about Abraham Lincoln [1], I am always looking out to see if a given book will tell me something I had not read or thought about concerning Lincoln as a man and as a president.  This book managed to do just that in an unexpected way.  What this book does is put Ab......more

Goodreads review by John Ryan on July 02, 2023

After reading Chernow’s book on Washington, I realized that Jews and public figures interacted since the first days in this country, despite their super minority and antisemitism. Jonathan Saran and Benjamin Shapell bring forward detailed research to demonstrate the impact Jews had in our 16th presi......more

Goodreads review by J. Bryce on May 02, 2015

Totally lying. I didn't finish it, but I recommend it anyway. Chronicles Lincoln's life, focussing on his personal relationships with Jews, and the Jewish-American experience in the early-to-mid-19th century. Fascinating stuff, but I've got a few other irons in the fire and it's new, so I wanted to r......more