Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union
Author(s): Louis P. Masur
"The time has come now," Abraham Lincoln told his cabinet as he presented the preliminary draft of a "Proclamation of Emancipation." Lincoln's effort to end slavery has been controversial from its inception--when it was denounced by some as an unconstitutional usurpation and by others as an inadequate half-measure--up to the present, as historians have discounted its import and impact. At the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, Louis Masur seeks to restore the document's reputation by exploring its evolution. Lincoln's Hundred Days is the first book to tell the full story of the critical period between September 22, 1862, when Lincoln issued his preliminary Proclamation, and January 1, 1863, when he signed the final, significantly altered, decree. In those tumultuous hundred days, as battlefield deaths mounted, debate raged. Masur commands vast primary sources to portray the daily struggles and enormous consequences of the president's efforts as Lincoln led a nation through war and toward emancipation. With his deadline looming, Lincoln hesitated and calculated, frustrating friends and foes alike, as he reckoned with the anxieties and expectations of millions.
We hear these concerns, from poets, cabinet members and foreign officials, from enlisted men on the front and free blacks as well as slaves. Masur presents a fresh portrait of Lincoln as a complex figure who worried about, listened to, debated, prayed for, and even joked with his country, and then followed his conviction in directing America toward a terrifying and thrilling unknown.
Product Information
Masur has written a compelling, convincing page-turner about a dramatic period in history that too many Americans take for granted-the fraught hundred days between Lincoln's preliminary and final proclamations of freedom, when the fate of liberty itself hung in the balance. Here is superb scholarship and high drama combined into a rich and rewarding narrative. -- Harold Holzer, author of Emancipating Lincoln A stirring and penetrating account of those tense days between Lincoln's preliminary edict and the final Emancipation Proclamation. The story will keep the reader on the edge of his seat until the final pages. -- James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom Masur takes a pivotal moment in time and opens it up like a master watchmaker, revealing the intricate, hidden mechanisms, the tensions and balances, concealed within the most momentous decision that an American president has ever made. A finely wrought and important book. -- Adam Goodheart, author of 1861: The Civil War Awakening A vital book about the meaning of the Civil War, and of America, brilliantly conceptualized, deeply researched, and elegantly written by one of the foremost scholars of the Civil War era. With fresh insights throughout, coupled with subtle and judicious syntheses, it should be read by anyone interested in America's past. -- John Stauffer, author of Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
Louis P. Masur is Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University.
General Fields
- :
- : Harvard University Press
- : The Belknap Press
- : 0.726
- : 29 August 2012
- : 235mm X 155mm X 28mm
- : United States
- : books
Special Fields
- : Louis P. Masur
- : Hardback
- : 973.7092
- : 384
- : 20 halftones in 2 b/w mock inserts