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Ted Widmer

Auteur van Martin Van Buren

15 Werken 1,248 Leden 13 Besprekingen

Over de Auteur

Ted Widmer is a Distinguished Lecturer at Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York. He writes actively about American history in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, where he helped create the Disunion feature about the Civil War.
Fotografie: Credit: Larry D. Moore, Texas Book Festival, Austin, TX, Nov. 1, 2008

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Werken van Ted Widmer

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Algemene kennis

Officiƫle naam
Widmer, Edward Ladd
Geboortedatum
1963
Geslacht
male

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Besprekingen

A wonderfully written account of the trip Lincoln took from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, DC, in February of 1861 to take the oath of office. Full of details and interesting side characters. It reads like a suspense novel, because we quickly come to understand the fraught times of the early 1860s, with a country beginning to separate and passions running high. Lincoln has received numerous death threats, and this trip involves a number of spies who go out and get a feel for the people, then report back their findings to Lincoln's party. Particularly treacherous is the trip through Baltimore, part of the Confederacy, where many are determined to keep him from Washington DC. Interestingly enough, the pro-Lincoln crowds were almost as dangerous, as they crowded around him relentlessly. Loved this book.… (meer)
 
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peggybr | 4 andere besprekingen | Oct 3, 2022 |
Although tagged as a Biography, this very readable account of Lincoln only covers 13 days of his life. On February 11, 1861 Lincoln began his journey to the Presidency in Springfield, Illinois aboard a train they called "The Special".

The train traveled 1,900, as Lincoln attempted to gather support from the industrial North. These States were vital to the war that Lincoln knew would come.

Lincoln was following Buchannan into the Oval Office. Buchannan's time
as President, known as the worst in history, was filled with corruption and cronyism with the Southern plantations. It was an eye-opener to see how our current political strife parallels what was happening in 1861 :

...the most depressing problem was the one that struck countless Europeans as the central paradox of American democracy. The ideals of the Declaration were hardly self-evident..

...even if Southern militias did not surround the Capitol, there was another way Lincoln's election could be turned back, striking for simplicity. On February 13th two boxes would be taken into the House chambers where they would be opened and the votes counted. But anything could happen in a city that that had effectively ceased to play by any rules. Perhaps the certificates had not been signed and sealed properly? Lincoln's enemies might declare a miscount, throwing the election into the House. Or leading Southerner's might just ask the Vice-President to become an "acting president"...


Before Lincoln left for Washington, Allan Pinkerton (Pinkerton Security) was hired to root out any trouble. Pinkerton uncovered several assassination plots along the route. The South was determined that Lincoln would never reach Washington.

As you read and travel the route with Lincoln, you watch a meek, "homely" man become an orator, who begins to emphasize the world ALL. As in "All men are created equal". While Lincoln was shouting for unity, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the new President of The Confederacy. Every delay in Lincoln's arrival, for his inauguration, brought the Union closer to dissolution and war. Those who supported Lincoln came in droves to watch his train pass. Democracy was fraying at the seams...Lincoln helped Americans to feel that they were taking back their country from a cabal that was destroying its very purpose.

An excellent look at history-highly recommended

I received this book as a GR's Give Away-Thank you goodreads and thank you Simon and Schuster
… (meer)
 
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JBroda | 4 andere besprekingen | Sep 24, 2021 |
Well written and gives a good overview of a president who is only slightly known. While it was short on specific details and does not give a detailed daily step by step, but rather concentrates on the larger spread of his centrist positions. It gave me enough of a feel to continue on my quest to read a bio of each president in order. I can see how he fits in the line, and can now go on to read the next.

This book is regarded by many libraries as YA. It is rather erudite in its vocabulary, and presumes the reader has a better than average grasp of history and politics. I found it a pleasant addition to my rather thin knowledge of that era.… (meer)
½
 
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tututhefirst | 4 andere besprekingen | Feb 15, 2021 |
Gave a flavor of the times as well as Lincoln. While I learned a lot from this book, it was very repetitive.
It also make what recently happened with Trump seem trivial in comparison, but it's not.
½
 
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GShuk | 4 andere besprekingen | Jan 11, 2021 |

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Statistieken

Werken
15
Leden
1,248
Populariteit
#20,556
Waardering
½ 3.7
Besprekingen
13
ISBNs
34

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