Lincoln, Allen C. Guelzo
Lincoln, Allen C. Guelzo
List: $12.99 | Sale: $9.10
Club: $6.49

Lincoln
A Very Short Introduction

Author: Allen C. Guelzo

Narrator: Patrick Lawlor

Unabridged: 4 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/15/2023


Synopsis

Beneath the surface of the apparently untutored and deceptively frank Abraham Lincoln ran private tunnels of self-taught study, a restless philosophical curiosity, and a profound grasp of the fundamentals of democracy. Now, in Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction, the award-winning Lincoln authority Allen C. Guelzo offers a penetrating look into the mind of one of our greatest presidents.

Guelzo takes us on a wide-ranging exploration of problems that confronted Lincoln and liberal democracy—equality, opportunity, the rule of law, slavery, freedom, peace, and his legacy. The Lincoln we meet here is an Enlightenment figure who struggled to create a common ground between a people focused on individual rights and a society eager to establish a certain moral, philosophical, and intellectual bedrock. Lincoln insisted that liberal democracy had a higher purpose, which was the realization of a morally right political order. But how to interject that sense of moral order into a system that values personal self-satisfaction—"the pursuit of happiness"—remains a fundamental dilemma even today.

Guelzo paints a marvelous portrait of this Lincoln—Lincoln the man of ideas—providing new insights into one of the giants of American history.

About Allen C. Guelzo

Allen C. Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. Three-time winner of the Lincoln Prize, he is the author of Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction, and Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction.


Reviews

Goodreads review by robin on February 15, 2021

A Man Of Ideas The year 2009 marked the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, resulting in the publication of a number of short biographies for busy readers of the 16th president, including books by James McPherson's "Abraham Lincoln" and George McGovern's book for the American President's Series, "Abraha......more

Goodreads review by John-Paul on March 16, 2014

Like, it seems, many people, I saw Spielberg's "Lincoln" and realized that I've never read a Lincoln biography. I know a lot of people who know a lot about Lincoln, and I know some things about him, but I could know a lot more. For the past year, David Herbert Donald's "Lincoln" has been on my nights......more

Goodreads review by Renee on November 14, 2023

I enjoy learning about history, but I personally have difficulty following politics. That’s why I gave a 3, very interesting to learn about the road to emancipation.......more

Goodreads review by Panda on February 23, 2018

This 128 page biography of Lincoln is extraordinary. It is required reading in the Civil War course I'm taking right now, and I thought it would be boring, but I ended up enjoying it so much that I slowly read and pondered every word. While a lesser book would merely present facts and minutiae about......more

Goodreads review by Jordan on May 09, 2024

Civil War historian Allen Guelzo has written a great Lincoln biography for the “Very Short Introduction” series. He calls this a “biography of his (Lincoln's) ideas” (8) and records the development of Lincoln’s thought from his time as a young lawyer to the President of the United States. Guelzo doe......more