The eloquent president
Subtitle: a portrait of Lincoln through his words
By: Ronald C. White, Jr.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 448
Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Oratory.; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Correspondence.; Presidents -- United States -- Biography.; Eloquence -- Case studies.; Rhetoric -- Political aspects -- United States -- Case studies.; Speeches, addresses, etc., American -- History and criticism.; American letters -- History and criticism.; United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865.
Genres: Correspondence.; Biography.; Case studies.
Description: Historian Ronald White examines Lincoln's astonishing oratory and explores his growth as a leader, a communicator, and a man of deepening spiritual conviction. Examining a different speech, address, or public letter in each chapter, White tracks the evolution of Lincoln's rhetoric from the measured, lawyerly tones of the First Inaugural to the haunting, immortal poetry of the Gettysburg Address. As a speaker who appealed not to intellect alone, but also to the hearts and souls of citizens, Lincoln persuaded the nation to follow him during the darkest years of the Civil War. Through the speeches and what surrounded them, we see the full sweep and meaning of the Lincoln presidency.--Publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [403]-421) and index.
Table of contents: title: Chronology; title: Index to Lincoln speeches and texts; title: Prologue; title: "With a task before me greater than ... Washington"; title: "This, his almost chosen people"; title: "The mystic chords of memory"; title: "This is ... a people's contest"; title: My paramount object in this struggle"; title: "God wills this contest"; title: "We cannot escape history"; title: "You say you will not fight to free Negroes"; title: "This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom"; title: "I claim not to have controlled events"; title: With malice toward none: with charity for all"; title: Epilogue; title: Appendixes.; title: Farewell address at Springfield, February 11, 1861; title: Speeches and remarks, train trip from Springfield to Washington, February 11-23, 1861; title: First inaugural address, March 4, 1861; title: Message to Congress in special session, July 4, 1861; title: Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862; title: Meditation on the divine will, September 2(?), 1862; title: Annual message to Congress, December 1, 1862; title: Abraham Lincoln to James C. Conkling, Letter to the Springfield Rally, August 26, 1863; title: Gettysburg address, November 19, 1863; title: "Little speech" to Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864; title: Second inaugural address, March 4, 1865; title: Bibliographical essay