Adopting a new approach to an American icon, an award-winning scholar reexamines the life of Abraham Lincoln to demonstrate how his remarkable political acumen and leadership skills evolved during the intense partisan conflict in pre-Civil War Illinois. By describing Lincoln's rise from obscurity to the presidency, William Harris shows that Lincoln's road to political success was far from easy—and that his reaction to events wasn't always wise or his racial attitudes free of prejudice.Although most scholars have labeled Lincoln a moderate, Harris reveals that he was by his own admission a conservative who revered the Founders and advocated "adherence to the old and tried." By emphasizing the conservative bent that guided Lincoln's political evolution—his background as a Henry Clay Whig, his rural ties, his cautious nature, and the racial and political realities of central Illinois—Harris provides fresh insight into Lincoln's political ideas and activities and portrays him as morally opposed to slavery but fundamentally conservative in his political strategy against it.Interweaving aspects of Lincoln's life and character that were an integral part of his rise to prominence, Harris provides in-depth coverage of Lincoln's controversial term in Congress, his re-emergence as the leader of the antislavery coalition in Illinois, and his Senate campaign against Stephen A.Douglas. He particularly describes how Lincoln organized the antislavery coalition into the Republican Party while retaining the support of its diverse elements, and sheds new light on Lincoln's ongoing efforts to bring Know Nothing nativists into the coalition without alienating ethnic groups. He also provides new information and analysis regarding Lincoln's nomination and election to the presidency, the selection of his cabinet, and his important role as president-elect during the secession crisis of 1860-1861.Challenging prevailing views, Harris portrays Lincoln as increasingly driven not so much by his own ambitions as by his antislavery sentiments and his fear for the republic in the hands of Douglas Democrats, and he shows how the unique political skills Lincoln developed in Illinois shaped his wartime leadership abilities. By doing so, he opens a window on his political ideas and influences and offers a fresh understanding of this complex figure.

Product Description: Over the course of the Civil War, fifty-nine men served as governors of the twenty-five Union states.  Although these state executives were occasionally obstructionist and often disagreed amongst themselves, their overall cooperation and counsel bolstered the policies put forth by Abraham Lincoln and proved essential to the Union’s ultimate victory...read more

Product Description: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work...read more

Product Description: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work...read more

Product Description: The Basses, Fresh Water And Marine. PREFACE. A FEW lines only are necessary to explh the object with which this volume on the Basses is put forth. It is intended as a companion and sequel to the Editors book on Brook Trout, which fiom all sources has received a most kindly and flattering reception-a fhvor he would bespeak for the present issue...read more

Product Description: "Out of many, one." But how do the many become one without sacrificing difference or autonomy? This problem was critical to both identity formation and state formation in late 18th- and 19th-century America. The premise of this book is that American writers of the time came to view the resolution of this central philosophical problem as no longer the exclusive province of legislative or judicial documents but capable of being addressed by literary texts as well...read more

Product Description: Lincoln Prize winner William C. Harris turns to the last months of Abraham Lincoln's life in an attempt to penetrate this central figure of the Civil War, and arguably America's greatest president. Beginning with the presidential campaign of 1864 and ending with his shocking assassination, Lincoln's ability to master the daunting affairs of state during the final nine months of his life proved critical to his apotheosis as savior and saint of the nation...read more

A sequel to Delirium of the Brave finds an IRA soldier-turned-Nazi spy becoming a powerful force in Savannah society in the years after the war, until the discovery of secrets threaten to destroy him and his budding politician son. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Beginning with the death of two friends--one white, the other black--in each other's arms, this sprawling novel of Savannah traces four generations of their families from the Civil War to the present day. Reprint.

Product Description: Harris maintains that Lincoln held a fundamentally conservative position on the process of reintegrating the South, one that permitted a large measure of self-reconstruction, and that he did not modify his position late in the war...read more

Product Description: "Anyone interested in the Civil War along the eastern seaboard--and most especially North Carolina--will applaud the availability of a scholarly, well-edited edition of the Haines book."--Daniel Sutherland, University of Arkansas"The most comprehensive account by a private soldier of the 1862-1863 campaigns in North Carolina...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This book details the events leading up to North Carolina's secession from the Union on 20 May 1861 and provides a concise explanation of the state's political, social, and economic landscape in the antebellum era.Chapter titles include: "The Setting," "Class and Social Structure," "Origins of the Slavery Controversy," "The First Crisis," "The Unraveling of the Compromise," "Ominous Events and the Campaign of 1860," " 'Watch and Wait'," "The Convention Election," and "Secession...read more

Product Description: A volume in the Southern Biography Series. Red cloth binding, xiv + 332 pages including Illustrations, Abbreviations, Bibliographical Essay and Index. Hardcover.

Product Description: Recovering from its initial shock and resulting total absorption in the Watergate political scandal, the United States in the mid-1970s began to address itself to the moral implications of its politics, both national and international...read more