Rating: 
Summary: Boredom.
Review: I have never panned a book about Lincoln before, but there's a time and a place for everything it seems. This book is well researched, insightful, and in some places even illuminating, but it reads like a doleful college thesis, lacking a cohesive focus and existing without any tempo or cadence or rhythm whatsoever. Lincoln himself is not exactly the central figure, nor is the Gettysburg Address. For a while it seems Edward Everett is the focus, then the history of ancient cemeteries looms largest, with rambling discussions of Greek and Roman resting places and their evolution from urban to rural, etc. etc. etc. I suppose in all fairness, I should mention that Gettysburg, the place, is the subject. Do yourself a favor: visit the Memorial, skip the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Lincoln the rhetorician
Review: I love Garry Wills work. Wills gives the text of the Gettyburg address a close reading within the context of nineteenth century rhetorical theory and comes up with an argument that bolsters the argument which generations of Americans implicitly sympathetic to post-civil war southerners tried to deny--that slavery was, in fact, the central issue of the war. Lincoln makes a philosophical and ideological leap in his address of tying our national purpose firmly and directly to the Declaration and its principals of equality. In the process he thoroughly modernizes rhetorical principals to fit the newly emerging age of mass media. Edward Everett, the renowned Harvard President and scholar, looks backward to Pericles and the longtstanding traditions of oratory in fashinoning the two-hour keynote address at Gettysburg--a practice which was not unfamiliar to his audience. Lincoln followed with an unusual brevity, a style which, as it happens, could be transmitted by wire and published in newspapers afterward. (In some senses, it was the beginnings of the rhetoric of the soundbite.) Linclon like most politicians, particularly one running for reelection the following year, could not afford to get too far in front of his constitutents, but in this speech, Lincoln takes a bold step forward on the issue of the war and its effect of defining a national mission. His earlier pronouncements on race as well as on slavery in the non-seceding states were always cautious, Here, however, even if slavery is not mentioned directly, makes his message absolutely clear. Some of the press in attendance understood well and many criticized him for it (cf. Sandburg's summary of press responses to the address). Wills conveys clearly how revolutionary a piece the address was, both politically and as an advance in practical rhetoric.
Rating:
Summary: A history book for English majors
Review: I loved Wills' book, not for its historical brilliance, but rather for its literary insights. At the time I read it, I was preparing to teach the AP Language and Composition course which focuses on Greek/Latin rhetoric -- this book goes well beyond the level required for AP English. I challenge any literary reader not to be wowed by Wills' analysis of Lincoln's speech. Although I didn't assign it in my AP class, it would be perfect because of the line by line dissection of this memorable speech.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Analysis
Review: In this interesting and very readable book, Garry Wills provides a close reading of Lincoln's Gettysberg Address in order to place it in proper historic context. Wills reviews the circumstances of the occasion and the production of the speech, rebutting a number of common misconceptions. A close analysis of the rhetorical aspects of the Address demonstrate how the Address is rooted in 19th century American interest in Greek rhetoric, the Romantic revival, and Transcendentalism. Most important, Wills shows how the Address exemplifies Lincoln's vision of American society based on a vision of Liberty and Equality with the Declaration of Independence as the foundation document of the nation. This view, which had a long and distinguished history in the first half of the 19th century, became the intellectual underpinnings for the attack on Slavery. Wills may exaggerate when he says that the Address itself became a major vehicle for this transforming view of American political life. It is more likely that the Address is one of many elements that combined to expand the conception of liberty. On the other hand, Lincoln's immense prestige after the Civil War, which was bolstered tremendously by the power of this speech and his second Inaugural Address, acted as a guarantor of the views he advocated.
Rating:
Summary: Puts the Gettysburg Address into a fascinating context.
Review: It is a crime that this book has been allowed to go out of print. Wills's account of the oh-so-familiar Gettysburg Address reveals how little even most historians know about its context in social and cultural history. He takes us back to Pericles' funeral oration near the beginning of the Peloponnesian Wars (Lincoln's conscious model) and goes on to show such threads of influence as the poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson (like whom Lincoln had his just-buried son exhumed in order to gaze on his face one more time), the recent phenomenon of "garden cemetaries" as both moral influences and picnic sites, and--most of all--Lincoln's determination to shift the nation's scriptural reverence from the very conservative Constitution to the radical Declaration of Independence. A deserving winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book should be read by all who care about how we became the nation we think we are.
Rating:
Summary: Lincoln the Radical
Review: Literary prizes are handed out every year, but true worth is manifested by actual readers going out and buying their books year after year. Nearly a decade has passed since Garry Wills won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for "Lincoln at Gettysburg," but the magnitude of his achievement is measured by the continued interest which book lovers have lavished on this thoughtful and debate-stirring work of history. Wills situates the Gettysburg Address in the Greek Revivalism exemplified by Edward Everrett (the forgotten featured speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetary), as well as in the Transcendentalist movement of Theodore Parker and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He goes on to demonstrate the inherant radicalism of Lincoln's 272 immortal words, imbued as they are with the dangerous notion that all men are created equal. Wills argues convincingly that the Gettysburg address hijacked the narrow readings of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution put forward by the southern rebels; through his words, Lincoln succeeded in placing these founding documents on the side of the angels by insisting that liberty and equality rather than sterile legalisms about states rights were the true basis of the grand experiment of the founders. In so doing, America's greatest President changed the history of the nation forever, influencing politics and policy right down to the present day. Huzzahs to Mr Wills for disinterring the radical hidden within the Great Compromiser!! And thanks to the prize committees for getting it right for a change.
Rating: 
Summary: Shakespeare
Review: My review of this book would indicate that the author has taken Lincoln out of context for his period and once again tried to put him in some hallowed hall. A simple review of the bible and Shakespeare plays which were Lincoln's main references would enlighten one to the origin of the speech. As for the support of the Declaration vs. the Constitution, I would hope Lincoln would find some legal status for his actions as he virtually distroyed the Constitution and reset our government on its present socialist agenda. Perhaps the only worst president has been Clinton.(by the way, my family fought on both sides and ran the underground railroad)
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK
Review: Reading some of the reviews, it is clear some people are voicing their agreement with the Civil War and its outcome, a United States of America, forever, rather than give their opinion of Wills' work. Yet no one can seriously question that the content of the book is great - easy to read, educational with out being booring and thought provoking in today's world. You do not need to be a Civil War boor to enjoy this book. After finishing the book, I was faced the the truth that our generation (myself included) is truely unaware and uneducated in the classics.Just as tens of thousands of Southerners died not to keep slaves (most soldiers had none), but for their belief in a states' right to remove itself from the Union, go it's own way without the North or anyone else telling it what to do (exactly what George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and those Sons of Liberty in Boston had done only "four score and seven years" before [and which is why the "rebel flag" has little to do with race or prejudice]), tens of thousands of Northerners died to keep a united country - not to free slaves. Yet, after all the death and destruction and personal loss, which seemed to climax or reach a "high water mark" on those 3 days in July, 1863, Lincoln understood - and here Wills really excells, that the War had a much bigger meaning than simply deciding a political question. He raised the stakes at Gettysburg and perhaps that move is what ultimately decided the question. Besided the background and history, ALL Americans, North and South should read the book with the end of Lincoln's speech in mind: "that government, of the people, by the a people and fore the people, shall not perish from this earth." Had so many not died for that concept, H.L. Menkin probably would not have had the right to write and say what he did. Had the South won its right to independence would member states of the CSA withdraw when an impass was reached? Would we have 2, 5 perhaps 50 seperate countries today, ala the USSR and its Republics? How would WWI & WWII have been different? With two countries, the USA/CSA - perhaps one might have remained on the sidelines or perhaps a CSA would have supported the racist views of Nazi Germany? Clearly world history would have been very different in ways no one could begin to know and perhaps the government we enjoy today (warts and all) would not exist as it does. Those who wish it were different can take heart by considering the current national political scene: G.W.Bush (Texas); A. Gore (Tenn.); B.& H Clinton (Ark.), etc., etc., etc...
Rating:
Summary: 272: Number of Words That Redefined America
Review: The 272 of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are as significant today as they were six score and seventeen years ago. Garry Wills' explicates them and paints a picture that gives us the historical context of the President's speech. It was short enough for generations of people to remember, yet at the same time, long enough to have a great impact on the ways we think of America. Wills argues that through his speech Lincoln remade the American history in that Americans would interpret the Civil War, and the Constitution, through the kaleidoscope of the Declaration of Independence. It is an extraordinary argument that, with just two hundred seventy-two words, Lincoln changed the American history and forever altered the ways we interpret the American Revolution. With a rhetorical approach, Wills - like Lincoln - persuades his readers, through evidence and interpretation, to be convinced that at Gettysburg, Lincoln "revolutionized the Revolution, giving people a new past to live with that would change their future indefinitely." Wills begins with a vivid description of the consequence of the three-day battle in early July 1863 that resulted in fifty thousand casualties. While Wills mentions that Edward Everett was the star of the ceremony in dedicating the Gettysburg, Lincoln - through a casual invitation - decided to make an appearance there. The casual invitation did not intend to offend the President, nor did he get offended. Of course, this was no accident. For Lincoln, Wills reasons, it was an opportunity. It was his chance to recuperate the political fences and elucidate the goals of the Civil War. Wills persuasively points out that contrary to the popular myth that Lincoln wrote his speech on his way to Gettysburg on the train, Lincoln was a scholarly man and has always performed his work with shrewdness. The President did not do anything inadvertently and thus, "it is impossible to imagine him leaving his speech at Gettysburg to the last moment." It is an intriguing matter that just when the readers think that Wills has delivered them with everything there is to know about the Gettysburg Address, the author merely begins to examine the national treasure for historical and cultural context. He argues that Lincoln's address "is made compact and compelling by its ability to draw on so many sources of verbal energy." Among these sources was classical rhetoric. The author illustrates the different ways both Everett and Lincoln used rhetoric to persuade their audience. He compares Lincoln's speech, especially, to Athenian funeral prose which often began with a praise for the dead, and closed with an advice for those who are alive. Lincoln modeled his speech on them to articulate his thoughts to his audience. Wills entertains his readers by compelling them to be fascinated by Lincoln's use of language. In fact, he goes as far as dedicating an entire chapter to the revolution of the prose style in America that he argues is among the accomplishments of the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was fond of experimenting with words and their usage, and he spent a great deal of his time doing so. Using the changes the President made himself to his First Inaugural speech - that was prepared for him by William Seward - as his evidence, Wills explains that Lincoln acquired a rhythmic pace that made his sentences smooth and coherent. Ultimately, Lincoln embraced the ideals of rhetoric and used them efficiently to make his speeches more powerful. The author goes a step further and provides his readers with an analysis of the Gettysburg Address. He records that the speech is outstanding and abstract. Unlike Everett's speech, where he provides details after details of the Civil War, Lincoln avoids them in his address. The President did not mention Gettysburg- the battlefield, or the Union- the defender of the Constitution, or the South- the runaway rebel that had just been captured; nor did he mention anything about slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation, or the future of the freed slaves. This was no accident at all. President Lincoln avoided mentioning these issues in his speech because, for one thing, they were the most controversial issues of the time. He did so, according to Wills, to look "beyond the wars to 'the great task remaining before us' as a nation trying to live up to the vision in which it was conceived." Lincoln wanted to put the war behind and move on to build a nation as foreseen by the forefathers of the republic. The Gettysburg Address focused more on the pivotal ideas for the nation and found a connection to the Declaration of Independence. Throughout his book, Wills shows his readers that there exist a relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address. According to Wills, Lincoln often referred to the Declaration of Independence when he argued that it was inconsistent to think that the American people could believe that all men had the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness but deny the very rights to black slaves. Lincoln was determined to not let this happen; and so, the Civil War was fought. Eloquently, Wills pens that Lincoln was able to remake America in his Gettysburg Address because he had spent a great deal of time relating the most sensitive issues of the era to the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln, as Wills writes, viewed the Declaration of Independence as the basis of the American nation. Thus, it is deeply embedded within the Gettysburg Address. The pivotal argument of Wills writing is that in the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln turned the attention of the nation of nations, the United States of America, towards its founding document, the Declaration of Independence. The President, with only two hundred seventy-two words, remade America on the most important principle of this sacred document - that all men are created equal.
Rating:
Summary: A New Birth of Freedom
Review: The Battle of Gettysburg, a pivotal event in the Civil War, raged from July 1 to July 3, 1863. It was the largest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere and ended the Confederacy's second invasion of the North. Following the battle, the community of Gettysburg was thick with dead and wounded men. The Governor of Pennsylvania authorized the purchase of a cemetry for the reburial of the Union dead. The cemetry was dedicated in a ceremony on November 19, 1863. Edward Everett, a disinguished orator of the day, delivered a speech lasting over two hours. President Abraham Lincoln also accepted an invitation to deliver short remarks. His remarks of 272 became known as the Gettysburg Address. They constitute a seminal statement, and restatement of the American vision. Gary Wills's study "Lincoln at Gettysburg" deserves the accolades it has received if for no other reason than it gave many readers the opportunity to read and think about the Gettysburg Address. This is a speech that is dulled and lost in childhood. It needs to be approached and rethought as an adult to get an understanding of the depth of Lincoln's message. Wills sees the Gettysburg Address as recasting and remaking the American democratic experience. The speech expressly brings the hearer and reader back to the Declaration of Independence with its self-evident truth that "All men are created equal." This truth, Lincoln turns into a "proposition" on which our country was founded. (The Constitution, adopted thirteen years after the Declaration, countenances slavery and includes no language about human equality.) In his spare prose, Lincoln says little directly about the nature of "equality". Wills discusses the address and masterfully places it in the context of Lincoln's earlier speeches to help the reader understand the development of Lincoln's ideas on slavery, the antithesis of human equality. The Gettysburg Address also sounded the theme of the United States as a single undivided nation rather than a union or confederation of States. Wills shows how this theme too derives from the Declaration, when the people of the colonies rose up in unity to declare their Independence from Britain. Wills also reminds the reader of the sources of the idea of Nationhood in American history. He alludes to the Federalism of Chief Justice John Marshall and Justice Joseph Story. In particular, Wills discusses the Webster-Hayne debates. Lincoln greatly admired Webster as well as his fellow Whig, Henry Clay. Webster uttered the famous line "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable," which resonates through the Gettysburg Address. Wills tries to show the influence on Lincoln's thought on the transcendentalism of Emerson and of Theodore Parker. I thought this one of the more challenging sections of the book. While the Declaration was born in the skepticism of British empiricism and of Deism, transcendentalism emphasized the ideal. The Declaration and the Address, and the American mission, Lincoln transformed into ideal to be struggled for and realized by the living to commemorate the sacrifice of those who gave their lives to attain it. The book also includes an excellent treatment of rhetoric and speech, tracing Lincoln's address back to Thucidides and Georgias and ending with the observation that it marked the beginning of modern American prose. This book will encourage the reader to rethink and to understand the great nature of the American political experiment.
|
