To be honest, the last thing that I need to be reading is another book on Abraham Lincoln given everything that has been published over the past few years. However, I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying Eric Foner’s new book on Lincoln and slavery and I suspect that it will quickly establish itself as the standard study – highly recommended. I will also have quite a lot to say about Earl Hess’s new book on the Crater, which is by far the most thorough study of the battle. Hess adds quite a bit to our understanding of the racial aspect of the battle.
Shearer Davis Bowman, At the Precipice: Americans North and South During the Secession Crisis (University of North Carolina Press, 2010).
Paul A. Cimbala and Randall M. Miller, The Great Task Remaining Before Us: Reconstruction As America’s Continuing Civil War, (Fordham University Press, 2010).
Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and Slavery (Norton, 2010).
Earl J. Hess, Into the Crater: The Mine Attack at Petersburg, (University of South Carolina Press, 2010).
Kate Masur, An Example For All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle for Equality in Washington, D.C. (University of North Carolina Press, 2010).
Louis P. Masur, The Civil War: A Concise History (Oxford University Press, 2011).
I had an opportunity to get him to sign one of his books at the NPS symposium on interpretation at Civil War sites. I didn’t want to be one of those annoying people who tie up the line by showing up with a huge stack of books so I had to choose. I picked one of his earliest works, the book on Thomas Paine, because Paine was a particular favorite of my late mother’s and it’s a impressive work as well.
I’m not sure if I have EVERY book that Eric Foner has written, co-written, and/or edited, but I’ve done my level best to do so. I have the newest book and I’m very much looking forward to reading it. He’s both an excellent scholar and a compelling and informative writer.
I couldn’t agree more. His book on Reconstruction is perhaps his most significant, but I also really learned a lot from his study of the Republican Party and Free Labor.