"Lincoln's humor" and other essays / Benjamin P. Thomas ; edited by Michael Burlingame.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomas, Benjamin Platt, 1902-1956.

Contributor:

Burlingame, Michael, 1941-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.

Lincoln, Abraham.

Presidents--United States--Biography.

Presidents.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

l, 262 pages : portraits ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2002]

Summary:

This volume gathers the best previously unpublished and uncollected writings on Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln scholarship by one of his great biographers, Benjamin P. Thomas. A skilled historian and a masterful storyteller himself, Thomas was widely regarded as the greatest Lincoln historian of his generation. With these essays, he combines historical depth with narrative grace in delineating Lincoln's qualities as a humorist, lawyer, and politician.

From colorful tall tales to clever barbs aimed at political opponents, Lincoln clothed a shrewd wit in homespun, backwoods vernacular. He used humor to defuse tension, illuminate a point, put others at ease -- and sometimes for sheer fun. From an early reliance on broad humor and ridicule in formal speeches and on the stump, Lincoln's style shifted in 1854 to a more serious vein in which humor came primarily to elucidate an argument. "If I did not laugh occasionally I should die," he is said to have told his cabinet, "and you need this medicine as much as I do."

Thomas brings his deep knowledge of Lincoln to essays on the great man's tumultuous career in Congress, his work as a lawyer, his experiences in the courts, and his opinions of the South. A gracious survey of Lincoln's early biographers, particularly Ida Tarbell, stands alongside an appreciation of Harry Edward Pratt, a key figure in the early days of the Abraham Lincoln Association. Thomas also assesses Lincoln's use of language and the ongoing significance of the Gettysburg Address. This diverse collection is enhanced by an introduction by Michael Burlingame, himself a leading biographer of Lincoln. Burlingame provides a balanced portrait of Thomas and his circuitous path toward writing history.

Contents:

Part 1 The Words of Lincoln

1. Lincoln's Humor: An Analysis 3

2. Abraham Lincoln 23

3. Lincoln's Way with Words 28

4. The Meaning of the Gettysburg Address, Then and Today 34

Part 2 The Life of Lincoln

5. Lincoln and Democracy 45

6. Some Popular Misconceptions about Lincoln 60

7. Lincoln and New Salem 71

8. Lincoln and the South 79

9. Lincoln from 1847 to 1853 90

10. Abe Lincoln, Country Lawyer 139

11. Lincoln and the Courts, 1854-61 153

12. Edwin M. Stanton Takes Over the War Department 189

Part 3 The Biographers of Lincoln

13. Backstage with the Lincoln Biographers 207

14. Harry Edward Pratt 222

15. Our Lincoln Heritage from Ida Tarbell 230

16. The Art of Biography 246.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0252027086

OCLC:

47023504