The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words

by Ronald C. White Jr.

Book Overview

The fact that Abraham Lincoln is now universally recognized as America's greatest political orator would have surprised many of the citizens who voted him into office. Ungainly in stature and awkward... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400061199
• ISBN13: 9781400061198
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Lincoln the Eloquent President

Wonderful analysis of this remarkable and sensitive wordsmith and President

An excellent look at Lincoln's developing eloquence

In this book, White expands the focus from his previous work on Lincoln's Second Inaugural ("Lincoln's Greatest Speech" published in 2002). White looks at the progression of Lincoln's thought and the increasing greatness and eloquence of his speeches and public letters during his presidency that leads to that final and considered by many to be his greatest major speech. In the process of examining these speeches, White looks at them each individually, but also looks at their relationship to one another as "a string of pearls" (a term he uses more than once in the book). White uses this visual description of the speeches stating that while each pearl is beautiful in its own way and can be examined separately, they also come together and one pearl connects to others in the string that can best be understood by comparing them to each other and examining the ways they are connected. In many of the speeches, White demonstrates that Lincoln leaves the audience with thoughts and ideas that his mind is still wrestling with that are picked up again in a later speech and developed more fully as his thoughts on those subjects have matured over time. White has also done an excellent job in selecting the best and most memorable speeches and public letters from Lincoln's presidency. He begins with Lincoln's farewell remarks at Springfield on February, 11, 1861 and includes remarks from his journey to Washington. Also included are both of Lincoln's Inaugural Addresses, his reply to Horace Greeley's "Prayer of Twenty Millions," the 1862 Message to Congress, Conkling Letter, and Gettysburg Address. As I read each chapter on each of the speeches, I got a sense of the growth of Lincoln and the development of his thought until it reached its twin climaxes of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural.

The living word

This is a highly interesting history of the emergence of Lincoln's great rhetorical career during the civil war, starting with his railroad tour on the way to Washington after his election. Tracing the particulars and varied drafts of these gestating classics, the author puts each of the classic speeches in its context, especially the Gettesburg Address. The resulting fine-grain context for Lincoln's great masterpieces of eloquence is highly enjoyable and highlights the tenous edge they gave to his threatened passage as president through the trials of the Civil War.

The self-taught communicator

For anyone who enjoys the process of writing and speaking, this book is a great treat. Lincoln carefully selected words for their mental and emotional impact. And he seems to have gotten better every year. Very inspiring!

Brilliantly explains substance and style of Lincoln's prose

Abraham Lincoln was eloquent; everybody knows that. But what kind of eloquence did he have? How did he use it to advance his ideas and political agenda? How did he use it to enlighten the American people and to summon up the best that this nation can be? Any reader who has any interest in those questions must read this book. It is a profound yet lucid and fast-moving examination of Lincoln's uses of oratory as president-elect and as president. It stands with yet somehow manages to eclipse studies of specific speeches such as Garry Wills's LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG or the author's previous study of the Second Inaugural Address, LINCOLN'S GREATEST SPEECH. I teach Lincoln in my Law and Literature course and I plan to have this book at my elbow as I teach Lincoln this semester.