Redeeming the Great Emancipator (The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures) - Hardcover

Guelzo, Allen C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674286111 ISBN 13: 9780674286115

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2016

Synopsis

The larger-than-life image Abraham Lincoln projects across the screen of American history owes much to his role as the Great Emancipator during the Civil War. Yet this noble aspect of Lincoln’s identity is precisely the dimension that some historians have cast into doubt. In a vigorous defense of America’s sixteenth president, award-winning historian and Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo refutes accusations of Lincoln’s racism and political opportunism, while candidly probing the follies of contemporary cynicism and the constraints of today’s unexamined faith in the liberating powers of individual autonomy.

Redeeming the Great Emancipator enumerates Lincoln’s anti-slavery credentials, showing that a deeply held belief in the God-given rights of all people steeled the president in his commitment to emancipation and his hope for racial reconciliation. Emancipation did not achieve complete freedom for American slaves, nor was Lincoln entirely above some of the racial prejudices of his time. Nevertheless, his conscience and moral convictions far outweighed political calculations in ultimately securing freedom for black Americans.

Guelzo clarifies the historical record concerning what the Emancipation Proclamation did and did not accomplish. As a policy it was imperfect, but it was far from ineffectual, as some accounts of African American self-emancipation imply. To achieve liberation required interdependence across barriers of race and status. If we fail to recognize our debt to the sacrifices and ingenuity of all the brave men and women of the past, Guelzo says, then we deny a precious part of the American and, indeed, the human community.

About this title

About the Author:

Allen C. Guelzo is Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College.

Review:

“[A] brief, hard-hitting, and clear-eyed book.”―John Wilson, Christianity Today

“Lincoln scholar Guelzo explores race in America as an element of African-American history as affected by Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Declaration... A clear, concise look at one aspect of Lincoln, the man and the president.”―Kirkus Reviews

“Guelzo’s exploration of Lincoln’s reputation is both accessible and thought provoking.”―Publishers Weekly

“Guelzo delivers original and tautly argued insights into Lincoln’s antislavery thought and the feral persistence of American racism. No one who reads this superb, provocative book will be tempted to dismiss the depth or sincerity of Lincoln’s personal commitment to emancipation.”―Fergus M. Bordewich, author of America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise That Preserved the Union

“In this penetrating work, Guelzo recovers Lincoln’s reputation as the Great Emancipator and invites us to think anew about the legacies of slavery and freedom in America. The result is an important, timely meditation on issues that continue to haunt the nation.”―Louis P. Masur, author of Lincoln’s Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for Union

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0674286111
• ISBN 13: 9780674286115
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208