This unique exploration of Lincoln's economic beliefs shows how they helped shape his view of slavery, his conduct of the war, and most fundamentally his understanding of what the United States was and could become.

Cullen particularly focuses on the founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence ("the charter of the American Dream"); Abraham Lincoln, with his rise from log cabin to White House and his dream for a unified nation; and Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of racial equality. Our contemporary version of the American Dream seems rather debased in Cullen's eyes-built on the cult of Hollywood and its outlandish dreams of overnight fame and fortune.

In A Just and Generous Nation, the eminent historian Harold Holzer and the noted economist Norton Garfinkle present a groundbreaking new account of the beliefs that inspired our sixteenth president to go to war when the Southern states seceded from the Union. Rather than a commitment to eradicating slavery or a defense of the Union, they argue, Lincoln's guiding principle was the defense of equal economic opportunity. Lincoln firmly believed that the government's primary role was to ensure that all Americans had the opportunity to better their station in life. As president, he worked tirelessly to enshrine this ideal within the federal government. He funded railroads and canals, supported education, and, most importantly, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which opened the door for former slaves to join white Americans in striving for self-improvement. In our own age of unprecedented inequality, A Just and Generous Nation reestablishes Lincoln's legacy as the protector not just of personal freedom but of the American dream itself.

Beginning with the argument that the Emancipation Proclamation did not actually free African American slaves, this dissenting view of Lincoln's greatness surveys the president's policies, speeches, and private utterances and concludes that he had little real interest in abolition. Pointing to Lincoln's support for the fugitive slave laws, his friendship with slave-owning senator Henry Clay, and conversations in which he entertained the idea of deporting slaves in order to create an all-white nation, the book, concludes that the president was a racist at heart--and that the tragedies of Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era were the legacy of his shallow moral vision.

A biography of Abraham Lincoln that examines his untold legacy as the Great Builder of American infrastructure. Abraham Lincoln’s view of the right to fulfill one’s economic destiny was at the core of his governing philosophy―but he knew no one could climb that ladder without strong federal support. Some of his most enduring policies came to him before the Civil War, visions of a country linked by railroads running ocean to ocean, canals turning small towns into bustling cities, public works bridging farmers to market. Expertly appraising the foundational ideas and policies on infrastructure that America’s sixteenth president rooted in society, John F. Wasik tracks Lincoln from his time in the 1830s as a young Illinois state legislator pushing internal improvements; through his work as a lawyer representing the Illinois Central Railroad in the 1840s; to his presidential fight for the Transcontinental Railroad; and his support of land-grant colleges that educated a nation. To Lincoln, infrastructure meant more than the roads, bridges, and canals he shepherded as a lawyer and a public servant. These brick-and-mortar developments were essential to a nation’s lifting citizens above poverty and its isolating origins. Lincolnomics revives the disremembered history of how Lincoln paved the way for Eisenhower’s interstate highways and FDR’s social amenities. With an afterword addressing the failure of American infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how Lincoln’s policies provide a guide to the future, Lincolnomics makes the case for the man nicknamed “The Rail Splitter” as the Presidency’s greatest builder. “In this unique blend of biography and policy prescription, journalist Wasik . . . casts Abraham Lincoln as America’s “foremost moral architect of economic and social opportunity” and looks to his life and political career for lessons in how the nation might rebuild its infrastructure and redress income inequality. . . . Wasik convincingly argues that [Lincoln’s] economic policies deserve more credit.” —Publishers Weekly “While revealing as history, Wasik’s account about the first Republican President’s launches of infrastructure shame the ignorant, obstinate, narcissist Republicans of today who wish instead to build up tyrant Trump’s political infrastructure. This is a book to be read and used today.” —Ralph Nader “Wasik invented a new word for this book because his theme bears new force: Abraham Lincoln sought a better-built nation and a freer legal space to help every individual, regardless of background, to aspire and rise. Most historians know this too vaguely about Lincoln; Wasik finally gives the great democratic idea the prominence it deserves.” —James M. Cornelius, Ph.D., editor, Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association

One of the nation's premier literary scholars takes a broad look at the way Americans have reached beyond worldly desires for a spirituality. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.