



The Gettysburg Address (Illustrated Edition)
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Publisher Description
*Includes pictures of Lincoln, pictures of the crowd, and pictures of original drafts of the Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) is one of the most famous Americans in history and one of the country’s most revered presidents. Schoolchildren can recite the life story of Lincoln, the “Westerner” who educated himself and became a self made man, rising from lawyer to leader of the new Republican Party before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln successfully navigated the Union through the Civil War but didn’t live to witness his own accomplishment, becoming the first president assassinated when he was killed at Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth.
As impressive as his presidency was, one of his most lasting legacies was his writing. In addition to masterful writing for everything from orders to his generals and condolences to the aggrieved Mrs. Bixby, his Second Inaugural Address and Gettysburg Address are considered masterpieces that rate among the greatest writings in American history.
Perhaps Lincoln’s most impressive feat is that he was able to convey so much with so few words; after famous orator Edward Everett spoke for hours at Gettysburg, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address only took a few minutes. In those few minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, ensure that democracy would remain a viable form of government, and would also create a unified nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant. And yet, despite the speech's prominent place in the history and popular culture of the United States, the exact wording of the speech is disputed. The five known manuscripts of the Gettysburg Address differ in a number of details and also differ from contemporary newspaper reprints of the speech.
This edition of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is specially formatted with an original introduction, original commentary, pictures of Lincoln at Gettysburg, pictures of the speech, and pictures of the crowd.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McCurdy creates powerful, large-scale black-and-white illustrations like those in his Giants in the Land to match Abraham Lincoln's classic speech in this handsome volume. On oversize pages, scenes of Lincoln delivering the address at the Gettysburg battlefield alternate with visualizations of the imagery contained in it. For example, a line of people carrying building tools marches across the pages as Lincoln proclaims that ``it is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work.'' As Lincoln concludes, resolving that ``government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,'' the cheering crowd gazes out from the page into the future-a fitting conclusion to an American classic made new again. All ages.