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Summary: Very interesting, concise work on this crucial event...
Review: Tom Dilorenzo does a masterful job at researching this new look at Lincoln, and the Civil War in general. Any student of American History, or of Economics in general, will find this work to be a fascinating and thouroughly interesting page turner.The author, while championing his own view, brings in ample footnotes and evidence (from all political perspectives) to support his points. This book touches upon decades of history prior to the Civil War, and the implication that the War was a transformation point in American history, forever altering economic and political events up to the present time. The book is very concise and well written.
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Summary: Hogwash
Review: Another iconoclastic effort to reduce an honored man to the lowest common denominator. President Lincoln reportedly told a White House guest, "If I were to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how --the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference."
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Summary: Sobering Read.......... How Sad To Have Waged This War
Review: I might not have heard about this book had Walter Williams from George Mason University not written the Forward, or mentioned it in his newspaper column. Thank you Mr. Williams! I grew up in Louisiana. I am 53. I remember my grandmother saying how much disdain she had for Abe Lincoln. I never understood why..... until I read this book. This book brought many pieces together for me. The Civil War was NOT about slavery, although Abe Lincoln wanted all generations, as well as those living in that time, to believe it was. He wanted Centralized Government, pure and simple. And folks, that is what we have today. The question is, " What do we do about it now?" Thank you, Mr. Dilorenzo for bringing this light to our present awareness. It all fits. The world at that time started seeing that slavery was not founded on financial ground - let alone the right thing to be doing to other human beings. Non vilolent Emancipation was forthcoming -in all parts of the world, as well as the border states of the South, which would have led to the entire South. But that was not sufficient for Mr. Lincoln. He manipulated the political system on the backs of those who saw through him - North, as well as South, peoples - by throwing them into prison -- keep them quiet by all means! Lets hear it for the ' Information Age ' in this present time. The question before us now is, "What can we do about it now?" Read this book for starters. It will open your eyes irrespective of who you are. Just be ready for the truth to come your way. What do we do? Do we continue going in the direction of Centralized Government, or start supporting States Rights more than we may have been doing in the past? That is the real issue we all face in this present moment. Let those who want us all to remain ignornant on these issues realize in this present time, we do have the power to start making different decisions. The Federal Gov't is BIG ENOUGH with it's select few making millions off of the rest of us! I could not put this book down. I understand why the feelings were so strong as I grew up, and yet, many people never realized what really had happened - then, as well as now. How sad.... What pain and suffering, and loss of true freedoms for ALL: black, white, yellow and red. I now understand why the American Gov't slautered the American Indians. It all fits. How enlightening.
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Summary: Poison for Your Kids
Review: Yet another author who is Anti-American and determined to destroy our American heros. The only thing UNECESSARY is this book. If you read it...read it and then cry for our Nation. Our children are being taught by fools like this author. Read Lincoln's words - go to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and read the words inscribed there. That's all you need to know about Lincoln. This author is just plain wrong.
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Summary: Now Read the Life of Jefferson Davis
Review: DiLorenzo reveals the real Abe Lincoln and the real agenda of the Republican Party of 1854 through 1870 and beyond. It is an ugly story that every American needs to know. Next add a good biography of Jeff Davis to your reading agenda. The contrast between Lincoln and Davis is striking. Find Hudson Strode's biography of Davis - its the best...
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Summary: A word from our Greatest President!
Review: The best way to refute this thesis is to cite Lincoln himself. This is from his April 18, 1864 speech at Sanitary Fair: "The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word we do not mean the same thing.... "The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold the process by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruction of liberty." He went on to praise recent moves in Maryland toward emancipation, saying, "thanks to them that, in what they have done, the wolf's dictionary has been repudiated." It seems Mr. Dilorenzo finds his words in the wrong dictionary.
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Summary: Concise look at the "Real Lincoln"
Review: Although I did not find any new information here, I do believe that this is the best and most concise presentation of what most people are starting to realize about Abraham Lincoln. It gives a good overview of the politics motivating Lincoln and what the War was really about. It is a good fast read and perfect for anyone who would like to know what that period was really about without massive research.
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Summary: It's about time
Review: It's a wonderful book and a must read for any serious history student. ...
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Summary: A Fascinating Alternative View of "Honest Abe"
Review: I love American history, particularly Civil War history, since my great grandpappy soldiered for the South in that great conflict. Dilorenzo has written a fascinating alternative look at our "greatest President" Abraham Lincoln, and his book will not be popular with those who prefer perfumed and flowery myth to real history. Dilorenzo shows rather clearly that Lincoln was a ruthless politician who rode roughshod over any and all who stood in his way. Indeed, Lincoln was a man who imprisoned thousands of Northerners without charges or trial, shut down hundreds of Northern newspapers, illegally deported an Ohio congressman for disagreeing with his policies, and even attempted to arrest the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court! Lincoln's administration was in fact, a reign of terror, complete with a secret police and dictatorial powers, led by a man who started the worst war in American history, one that killed over 630,000 Americans and devastated the Southern economy for decades to come. Great grandpappy was right to fight against this tyrant. Dilorenzo does a great job of telling the side of Civil War history you won't get in high school: how Lincoln made total war on civilians, why secession was and is not illegal or unconstitutional, how Lincoln really felt about black people, the massive fraud and crime against the post-war South under "reconstruction," and how and why slavery was an important factor in the war (racial equality and morality had very little to do with it). DiLorenzo also does a good job of explaining the economic reasons for the Northern invasion -- to enforce their punitive tariffs and prevent the South from becoming a free trade zone, which would have been devastating to the Northern economy. The book reads like a novel and I couldn't put it down! Jefferson Davis once noted that "truth, crushed to earth, is truth still." Maybe the truth has finally come back to bite "Honest Abe" in the britches.
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Summary: Agenda as history
Review: Mr. Dilorenzo's book is clear and articulate ("immensely readable" is usually the phrase reviewers use), but is also an agenda-driven polemic. His case that Lincoln somehow chose war over a peaceful settlement ignores two facts: Lincoln's choice wasn't war over peace, but union over division (Lincoln maintained that it was the southern states that broke faith with the Consititution); and that it was the south that decisively opted for war (e.g., Lincoln's first inaugral address, in which he extended an olive branch to the southern states, and stated it was they that had the power to choose war or peace). The author's main beef with Lincoln is that he was somehow the architect of "big government," or at least a more centralized government. Big government became the result, or necessity, of the Civil War, rather than the result of some grand design of Lincoln's. The union could not have prosecuted the war without greater centralization, conscription, a centralized financial system, and the like -- all things the author criticizes. Other historians have concluded that it was the Civil War which actually "united" the United States as a nation, and gave the nation its character...prior to this, the US was still simply a loose confederation of states, regardless of its name. The idea that Lincoln could have ended slavery peacefully is also a tad inaccurate, and neglects to recognize the numerous efforts Lincoln made at compensated emancipation (Congress balked; and it's debatable the south would have gone along anyway). I suppose Mr. Dilorenzo would have had no problem with the success of the Confederacy and the continuation of slavery into the late 19th Century, or with the development of what was left of the United States into a minor, somewhat backward force in the world. If Mr. Dilorenzo contradicts countless volumes of books on Abraham Lincoln, maybe the fault for these contradictions doesn't rest with those countless volumes.
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