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1862: Abraham Lincoln And The Making Of America (2012)

by David von Drehle(Favorite Author)

4.26 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Henry Holt and Co.

review 1: An really well-written overview of 1862 and a general assessment of Lincoln's presidency. Civil War and Lincoln scholars will not find a lot of new material in this book, but it's packed with great quotes and really gives one a feel for the tumultuous political waters Lincoln was navigating. I'm pretty convinced of the main arguments the author makes: 1862 was the single most dangerous year in the nation's history and that one person can make a difference. There are better recent books on Lincoln (Foner's "Fiery Trial") and the Civil War (William's "People's History"), but readers will not be disappointed. I'd definatly assign this if I taught a course on the Civil War.
review 2: A well-written and lively portrait of Lincoln in 1862. If you’ve read up on thi... mores era you probably won’t find anything new here, nor may it be in-depth enough for some. However it is still a good general history of that pivotal year. We see the ill-prepared Lincoln mature as a president and commander-in-chief. Drehle does a great job explaining the rationale for all of lincoln’s decisions, probably not a hard task for the author since Lincoln was so gifted at expressing lofty ideas in pithy prose that anybody could understand.We see Lincoln’s views on slavery and emancipation evolve as he maneuvers around the obstructions of people like General McClellan and Chief Justice Roger Taney, and alters the nature of the war as a “hard war” bent on destroying slavery and crushing the rebels’ will to fight. We also see how little effort both sides devoted to setting strategy, which may surprise some readers but will be familiar to those who have already read up on the Civil War. The Northern war effort under McClellan was basically just a series of tactical operations, with nothing resembling strategic planning ever happening, even though the results were indistinguishable.The book is filled with anonymous quotes usually used to support Drehle’s main points; you have to flip back to the endnotes to find out who actually said them. Still, quite a well-researched book with a linear narrative that is easy to follow. less

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