Book
The fiery trial : Abraham Lincoln and American slavery
Edition
1st ed.
Publication Information
New York : W.W. Norton, c2010.
Physical Description
xxi, 426 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
Summary
In a landmark work of deep scholarship and insight, Foner gives us a life of Lincoln as it intertwined with slavery, the defining issue of the time and the tragic hallmark of American history. The author demonstrates how Lincoln navigated a dynamic political landscape deftly, moving in measured steps, often on a path forged by abolitionists and radicals in his party, and that Lincoln's greatness lay in his capacity for moral and political growth.
Contents
- "I am naturally anti-slavery" : young Abraham Lincoln and slavery
- "Always a Whig" : Lincoln, the law, and the second party system
- "The monstrous injustice" : becoming a republican
- "A house divided" : slavery and race in the late 1850s
- "The only substantial difference" : secession and Civil War
- "I must have Kentucky" : the border strategy
- "Forever free" : the coming of emancipation
- "A new birth of freedom" : securing emancipation
- "A fitting, and necessary conclusion" : abolition, reelection, and the challenge of reconstruction
- "Every drop of blood" : the meaning of the war.