Allen Guelzo explores the relevance of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates to our political culture. His latest book on the L-D Debates is now available. I highly recommend Susan Mandel’s article on the proposal and construction of the Lincoln Memorial, and make sure you check out the photo gallery which includes some wonderful images of its construction. Lev Grossman reviews some of the recent Lincoln literature of which there is a great deal. He has this to say:
At the time, Lincoln’s death was fused with Jesus’ in the popular
imagination—people needed Lincoln to be more than human in order to
give meaning to the slaughter over which he presided. We still seem to
need that, even while we know it’s not true. Maybe it’s that gap,
between Lincoln’s mortal and immortal natures, that we’re trying to
fill with all these words.
I don’t think that explains it at all. Maybe Lincoln is just a fascinating study.