Emancipating Lincoln [electronic resource] : the Proclamation in text, context, and memory / Harold Holzer.
2012
E453 .H644 2012eb
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Title
Emancipating Lincoln [electronic resource] : the Proclamation in text, context, and memory / Harold Holzer.
Author
Holzer, Harold.
ISBN
9780674065208 electronic book
0674064402
9780674064409
0674064402
9780674064409
Publication Details
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (213 p., [28] p.) : ill.
Call Number
E453 .H644 2012eb
Summary
Emancipating Lincoln seeks a new approach to the Emancipation Proclamation, a foundational text of American liberty that in recent years has been subject to woeful misinterpretation. These seventeen hundred words are Lincoln's most important piece of writing, responsible both for his being hailed as the Great Emancipator and for his being pilloried by those who consider his once-radical effort at emancipation insufficient and half-hearted. Harold Holzer, an award-winning Lincoln scholar, invites us to examine the impact of Lincoln's momentous announcement at the moment of its creation, and then as its meaning has changed over time. Using neglected original sources, Holzer uncovers Lincoln's very modern manipulation of the media-from his promulgation of disinformation to the ways he variously withheld, leaked, and promoted the Proclamation- in order to make his society-altering announcement palatable to America. Examining his agonizing revisions, we learn why a peerless prose writer executed what he regarded as his 'greatest act' in leaden language. Turning from word to image, we see the complex responses in American sculpture, painting, and illustration across the past century and a half, as artists sought to criticize, lionize, and profit from Lincoln's endeavor. Holzer shows the faults in applying our own standards to Lincoln's efforts, but also demonstrates how Lincoln's obfuscations made it nearly impossible to discern his true motives. As we approach the 150th anniversary of the Proclamation, this concise volume is a vivid depiction of the painfully slow march of all Americans-white and black, leaders and constituents-toward freedom. -- Publisher description
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (p.175-198) and index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Description based on print version record.
Series
Nathan I. Huggins lectures.
Available in Other Form
Emancipating Lincoln.
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Table of Contents
The bow of promise
Emancipator versus pettifogger
Sacred effigies.
Emancipator versus pettifogger
Sacred effigies.