And There Was Light And There Was Light

And There Was Light

Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

    • 4.4 • 298 Ratings
    • $8.99

Publisher Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Jon Meacham chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln, charting how—and why—he confronted secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery to expand the possibilities of America.

“Meacham has given us the Lincoln for our time.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize • Longlisted for the Biographers International Plutarch Award • One of the Best Books of the Year: The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews

A president who governed a divided country has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations.

At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents—a remote icon—or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln—an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in an antislavery Baptist community; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him to see the right.

This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination in 1865: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end. In a nation shaped by the courage of the enslaved of the era and by the brave witness of Black Americans, Lincoln’s story illustrates the ways and means of politics in a democracy, the roots and durability of racism, and the capacity of conscience to shape events.

GENRE
Biographies & Memoirs
RELEASED
2022
October 18
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
720
Pages
PUBLISHER
Random House Publishing Group
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
119.4
MB

Customer Reviews

Interested American ,

Let There Be Light

The author presents Lincoln as an unlikely man of destiny who truly changed the world in spite of countless negative headwinds, both personal and political, throughout his presidential years. Surprisingly, Lincoln had to contend with far more division in the Country in 1861-65 than recent presidents have found. The difference is Lincoln was a man who held onto his principle’s and followed his conscience while making decisions that would affect the entire Country and each citizen. The author slowly intersperses Lincoln’s spiritual development as Lincoln realized his connection to the spiritual realm was his conscience……..and he used it well. A reader will undoubtedly appreciate Lincoln saving the Union at all costs.

FreethinkerX ,

Dimly Lit

Those interested in a comprehensive biography of Lincoln that provides a thorough exploration of early and mid-19th century culture hand in hand with Lincoln’s development therein, along with his personal relationships, will be much better served by David S. Reynolds’s ABE. Separately, Meacham’s biased and oppressive effort to center Lincoln’s morality and actions as primarily, if not wholly, religious in nature is tedious and uneven. Meacham has a clear agenda in mind that does a major disservice to the complexity of America’s greatest president.

Small town mover ,

And There Was Light

An excellent new readable examination of Lincoln the Man and Lincoln the President! It give insights that should be considered in our turbulent times of today. Read it!

Lincoln in Private Lincoln in Private
2021
Six Encounters with Lincoln Six Encounters with Lincoln
2017
Abe Abe
2020
Differ We Must Differ We Must
2023
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln
2012
A Self-Made Man A Self-Made Man
2016
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
2012
The Soul of America The Soul of America
2018
Destiny and Power Destiny and Power
2015
American Lion American Lion
2008
Franklin and Winston Franklin and Winston
2003
Rosewater: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival Rosewater: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival
2011
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
2022
The Demon of Unrest The Demon of Unrest
2024
An Unfinished Love Story An Unfinished Love Story
2024
Prequel Prequel
2023
War War
2024
The Code Breaker The Code Breaker
2021