HE LIVED WITH UNCERTAINTY ABOUT HIS IDENTITY IN THE WORLD. HE IS A FIGURE WHO HAD GOOD DAYS AND BAD DAYS, LOST TWO CHILDREN, HAD A DIFFICULT, AT BEST, MARRIAGE, SUFFERED FROM DEPRESSION, WAS SELF-EDUCATED, DID NOT BELIEVE THAT HIS BIRTH OR THAT OF HIS - SOME MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY HAD BEEN LEGITIMATE. TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE NOTION OF HOW WE THINK OF LINCOLN AND THE REALITY OF LINCOLN. YOU TALK ABOUT HIM - I HAVE SEEN YOU USE THE WORD FALLEN, FRAGILE, IMPERFECT. IF YOU ASK PEOPLE NOW, PROBABLY IF YOU ASK STUDENTS THIS, THEY WOULD SAY, LINCOLN, A TOWERING, PROBABLY FIGURATIVE AND LITERALLY, A TOWERING HEROIC FIGURE.

LET ME START WITH THE PERSONAL, IF I CAN. IT'S SURROUNDED BY THE DECISIONS OF HIS TIME. YOU MANAGE TO MELD A PERSONAL AND INTIMATE VIEW OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. SO WHAT WAS IT ABOUT HIM AND HIS ERA AND THOSE WHO WORKED IN CONCERT WITH HIM AS WELL AS THOSE WHO OPPOSED HIM, WHAT DO THOSE ELEMENTS TELL US ABOUT HOW DO YOU TAKE A DEMOCRACY FROM CRISIS TO A PLACE WHERE THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE IS, IN FACT, SACROSANCT AND CAN UNFOLD? I WANTED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION NOT OF HOW HE DID WHAT HE DID BUT WHY.ĭEMOCRACY HAS NOT BEEN AT AS GREAT A RISK SINCE HIS TIME THAN IT IS FOR OURS. I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WERE THESE BOOKS ABOUT LINCOLN. IT'S THE LINE ABOUT, THEY WERE IN A DESERT BUT I WAS MISINFORMED. WHY DID YOU DECIDE THAT YOU WANTED TO DO LINCOLN, AND WHY DID YOU WANT TO DO IT NOW? WE KNOW THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN THAT HAVE TAKEN A LOOK AT THE MAN. LET ME START WITH THE IDEA OF A LINCOLN BOOK. WE ARE DELIGHTED HE JOINS US TO TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK. JON MEACHAM'S BOOK GIVES US A LINCOLN FOR OUR TIME. HIS BOOK TITLED 'AND THERE WAS LIGHT, ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE' TAKES A FRESH LOOK AT HOW HE NAVIGATED THE POLITICAL TURMOIL OF HIS DAY AND SHOWS HOW HIS PRESIDENCY IS ESPECIALLY RELEVANT TODAY.

THE MAN WHO ENDED SLAVERY AND SAVED THE UNION IS HELD UP AS A PARAGON OF MORAL RECTITUDE AND REVERE AND ALMOST SAINT-LIKE FIGURE.Ī NEW BOOK BY JON MEACHAM REVEALS A MORE COMPLEX AND NUANCED PICTURE OF LINCOLN. ABRAHAM LINCOLN HAS BEEN VIEWED AS A ROLE MODEL FOR THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY.

And there was light by jon meacham