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As the tide of the Civil War turned in the spring of 1865, Abraham Lincoln took a dangerous two-week trip to visit the troops on the front lines accompanied by his young son, seeing combat up close, meeting liberated slaves in the ruins of Richmond, and comforting wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.
The power of Lincoln's personal example in the closing days of the war offers a portrait of a peacemaker. He did not demonize people he disagreed with. He used humor, logic, and scripture to depolarize bitter debates. Balancing moral courage with moderation, Lincoln believed that decency could be the most practical form of politics, but he understood that people were more inclined to listen to reason when greeted from a position of strength. Ulysses S. Grant's famously generous terms of surrender to General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox that April were an expression of a president's belief that a soft peace should follow a hard war.
While his assassination sent the country careening off course, Lincoln's vision would be vindicated long after his death, inspiring future generations in their own quests to secure a just and lasting peace. As US General Lucius Clay, architect of the post-WWII German occupation said when asked what guided his decisions: "I tried to think of the kind of occupation the South would have had if Abraham Lincoln had lived."
Lincoln and the Fight for Peace reveals with "its graceful prose and wise insights" (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Soul of America) how Lincoln's character informed his commitment to unconditional surrender followed by a magnanimous peace. Even during the Civil War, surrounded by reactionaries and radicals, he refused to back down from his belief that there is more that unites us than divides us. But he also understood that peace needs to be waged with as much intensity as war. Lincoln's plan to win the peace is his unfinished symphony, but in its existing notes, we can find an anthem that can begin to bridge our divisions today.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 15, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781797136004
- File size: 316931 KB
- Duration: 11:00:16
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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December 13, 2021
CNN anchor Avlon (Washington’s Farewell) studies in this revelatory history the “unfinished symphony” of Abraham Lincoln’s efforts to forge a just and lasting peace in the waning days of the Civil War. Promoting a vision of national reconciliation rooted in the “absence of malice” and the notion that “decency could be the most practical form of politics,” Lincoln defused volatile situations with Bible verses, humor, and logic, according to Avlon. He spotlights a visit Lincoln made in the last weeks of his life to City Point, Va., where he shared his desires for generous peace terms with Union Army commander Ulysses S. Grant, and, in one of the book’s most moving chapters, depicts Lincoln’s arrival in the fallen Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., where teeming, cheering throngs of freed Black slaves surrounded and followed the president through the streets. Skillfully drawing on Lincoln’s voluminous speeches and correspondence during this time, Avlon reveals a man of inestimable character (“character,” Avlon writes, “is the single most important quality in a president”) whose pragmatic plans for peace inspired future wartime presidents including Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman. Vividly told and expertly researched, this inspiring history draws on Lincoln’s example to chart “a path away from violent polarization and toward reconciliation in defense of democracy.” Agent: Sloan Harris, ICM Partners. -
June 1, 2022
Journalist Avlon makes a solid case for Abraham Lincoln as peacemaker in an impassioned reading of his book. Opening with a visit to troops on the front lines in 1865, Avlon uses personal anecdotes to paint this portrait of Lincoln as a man who embodied decency in politics from a position of strength. Lincoln's humanity is a constant; he invited his sister-in-law to the White House and granted her amnesty after her husband, a Confederate general, had been recently killed at Chickamauga. An impassioned lecturer, the author uses an intense and intentional tone that varies pacing during dramatic passages ("the clock ticked toward freedom"), emphasizes words in sentences to effect (he was "pro-labor, -immigration, and -conservation"), and raises and lowers both volume and vocal pitch to keep listeners engaged. Vocal inflections for quotes within the text (the gravelly voiced "Know Nothing" speaker) are effective. He closes with continuing applications of Lincoln's vision of peace and a reading of both Lincoln's second inaugural address and his last speech, a call for reconciliation. VERDICT Fans of Abraham Lincoln will see a new perspective of this great president.--Stephanie Bange
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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