by John Avlon
About the Author
John Avlon is a senior political analyst and anchor at CNN. He is an award-winning columnist and the author of Independent Nation, Wingnuts, and Washington’s Farewell. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast and served as chief speechwriter for the Mayor of New York during the attacks of 9/11. He lives with his wife Margaret Hoover and their two children in New York.
Overview
A groundbreaking, revelatory history of Abraham Lincoln’s plan to secure a just and lasting peace after the Civil War—a vision that inspired future presidents as well as the world’s most famous peacemakers, including Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a story of war and peace, race and reconciliation.
As the tide of the Civil War turned in the spring of 1865, Abraham Lincoln took a dangerous two-week trip to visit the troops on the front lines accompanied by his young son, seeing combat up close, meeting liberated slaves in the ruins of Richmond, and comforting wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.
The power of Lincoln’s personal example in the closing days of the war offers a portrait of a peacemaker. He did not demonize people he disagreed with. He used humor, logic, and scripture to depolarize bitter debates. Balancing moral courage with moderation, Lincoln believed that decency could be the most practical form of politics, but he understood that people were more inclined to listen to reason when greeted from a position of strength. Ulysses S. Grant’s famously generous terms of surrender to General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox that April were a direct expression of the president’s belief that a soft peace should follow a hard war.
While his assassination sent the country careening off course, Lincoln’s vision would be vindicated long after his death, inspiring future generations in their own quests to secure a just and lasting peace. As US General Lucius Clay, architect of the post-WWII German occupation, said when asked what guided his decisions: “I tried to think of the kind of occupation the South would have had if Abraham Lincoln had lived.”
Lincoln and the Fight for Peace reveals how Lincoln’s character informed his commitment to unconditional surrender followed by a magnanimous peace. Even during the Civil War, surrounded by reactionaries and radicals, he refused to back down from his belief that there is more that unites us than divides us. But he also understood that peace needs to be waged with as much intensity as war. Lincoln’s plan to win the peace is his unfinished symphony, but in its existing notes, we can find an anthem that can begin to bridge our divisions today.
Product Details
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ISBN-13: |
9781982108120 |
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Publisher: |
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Publication date: |
02/15/2022 |
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Pages: |
368 |
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Sales rank: |
18,281 |
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Product dimensions: |
9.00(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.10(d) |
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Section I With Malice Toward None 35
Section II Unconditional Surrender: Lincoln at War 51
Black in Blue and Gray 68
Father Abraham on the Front Lines 72
Lincoln and the Kittens 79
Peacemakers on the River Queen 85
The Ghosts of Petersburg 90
Section III A Magnanimous Peace: Lincoln and the Fall of Richmond 105
Inside the Confederate White House 117
Conversations with the Enemy 126
Dixie and Macbeth 138
Section IV Appomattox and the Art of Peace 145
"We are all Americans" 149
Lincoln's Last Speech 158
Good Friday, 1865 170
Section V Reconstruction: A Tragedy in Three Acts 185
The Anti-Lincoln 192
USA vs. KKK 200
The Star-Spangled Betrayal 207
Section VI The Fight for Peace 215
Woodrow Wilson's Lost Cause 219
Deploying the Lincoln Legend 227
A Plan to Win the Peace 234
Denazification and Democratization 239
MacArthur and the Emperor 247
"The Golden Rule for World Peace" 254
Conclusion 261
Lincoln's Second Inaugural & Final Speech 275
Acknowledgments 283
Selected Bibliography 289
Notes 293
Illustration Credits 337
Index 341
