A Companion to Abraham Lincoln

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-4051-9897-4
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons Inc

Buch, Englisch, 544 Seiten

Reihe: Wiley Blackwell Companions to American History

Navigate the vast Lincoln historiography with 33 authoritative scholarly essays

No American has generated more historical writing than Abraham Lincoln, yet navigating that voluminous literature remains a formidable challenge. A Companion to Abraham Lincoln assembles 33 historiographical essays by contributors ranging from senior scholars to graduate students. Together they survey the scholarship that has shaped past and present understandings of the sixteenth president and chart where the field is headed.

Organized into five sections—Personal Life and Character, The Political Lincoln, Leadership and Sectionalism, Slavery, Race, and Emancipation, and Public Life and Cultural Memory—each essay examines what scholars have argued about its particular topic. The volume addresses some of the most well-known and hotly contested debates in Lincoln studies, offering readers a clear map of existing research.

The book also includes: - Historiographical analysis covering depictions of Lincoln as emancipator, conservative, radical, military strategist, politician, and constitutional steward
- Coverage of contested topics including Lincoln's views on race, religion, marriage, and the expansion of executive power
- An authoritative overview connecting past interpretations to current scholarly directions and emerging lines of inquiry in the field
- Essays accessible to specialists, graduate students, and informed general readers seeking orientation within Lincoln scholarship
- Contributions examining Lincoln's enduring cultural memory, public legacy, and evolving legend from 1865 to the present day

Designed as a reference volume for historians, graduate students, librarians, archivists, and members of organizations such as the Lincoln Forum and Civil War Round Tables, A Companion to Abraham Lincoln provides the most current analysis of existing research on Lincoln's life, times, and lasting significance.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Green, Michael S.

Rothera, Evan C.

Smith Cox, Shae

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contributor Biographies x
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction xvi

Part I Personal Life and Character 1

1 "To This Place.I Owe Everything": Abraham Lincoln and the Midwest 3
Ginette Aley

2 Lincoln's Parents 17
Nicole Etcheson

3 The Lincolns as Parents 33
Bonnie Laughlin-Schultz

4 "Your Friend as Ever, A. Lincoln" and Those Who Claimed His Friendship 51
Megan VanGorder

5 Lincoln and Religion: The Continuing Debate 66
Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein

6 Lincoln and Medicine: Questions of His Health 80
Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein

7 Lincoln and the Law 92
Brian Matthew Jordan

Part II The Political Lincoln 103

8 Scholarship of Lincoln's Political Economy Part One: The Mysterious Disappearance of America's Revolutionary Republican Tradition 105
Stewart Winger

9 Scholarship of Lincoln's Political Economy Part Two: The Myth of a Stateless American Past 123
Stewart Winger

10 Becoming a Republican, 1854–1856 139
Daniel W. Crofts

11 Lincoln and Douglas 156
Michael E. Woods

12 The Election of 1860 173
Thomas A. Horrocks

13 The Election of 1864 188
Jonathan W. White

14 Lincoln and the Governors 205
A. James Fuller

15 Abraham Lincoln and U.S. Foreign Relations 217
Joseph A. Fry

16 Lincoln's Opponents 234
Sabrina L. As'ous

17 "Fraught with Great Difficulty": Lincoln and the Problem of Reconstruction 246
Matthew D. Norman

Part III Leadership and Sectionalism 263

18 "Lincoln as Strategist" 265
Barbara A. Gannon

19 Lincoln and the Armed Forces 278
Keith Altavilla

20 Lincoln and the Border States 294
Scott A. MacKenzie

21 Lincoln and the South 309
Vernon Burton and Anderson Rouse

22 The American Union and Abraham Lincoln's Nationalism 322
Andrew F. Lang

23 Lincoln and White Southern Unionists 343
Clayton J. Butler

Part IV Slavery, Race, and Emancipation 357

24 A Pendulum Begun in Richmond: The Historiography of Abraham Lincoln's Relationship with Slavery and Emancipation 359
Noah F. Crawford

25 Lincoln and the Domestic and International Trades in Enslaved Persons 374
Claire Wolnisty

26 Lincoln and the Abolitionists 387
Peter S. Field

27 The Great Emancipator and American Indians 402
James Precht and Scott L. Stabler

28 Immigration 415
Kevin Kenny

Part V Public Life and Cultural Memory 425

29 Lincoln and the World 427
Evan C. Rothera

30 Lincoln's Assassination 443
Brian Matthew Jordan

31 African American Memory 455
Hilary N. Green

32 Everyman Hero: Lincoln on Film 467
Christopher Phillips

33 "Now he belongs to the ages": Lincoln and Memory 478
Shae Smith Cox

References 486
Index 488

Über Autor(innen)

MICHAEL S. GREEN is Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and previously served as Professor of History at the College of Southern Nevada. He is the author of several books on Lincoln and the Civil War era, as well as on the history of Nevada.

EVAN C. ROTHERA is Assistant Professor of History at Sam Houston State University, Director of Graduate Studies, and Co-Director of the Civil War Consortium. He is the author of Civil Wars and Reconstructions in the Americas and served as President of H-Net in 2024.

SHAE SMITH COX is Assistant Professor of History in the War and Society Program and a core member of the Public History faculty at Texas A&M University. LSU Press published her first book, The Fabric of Civil War Society: Uniforms, Badges, and Flags, 1859–1939, in 2024.