Brian R. Dirck, Lincoln in Indiana (Southern Illinois University Press, 2017).
Erica A. Dunbar, Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge (Atria, 2017).
Pamela Haag, The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture (Basic Books, 2016).
Elizabeth Brown Pryor, Six Encounters With Lincoln: A President Confronts Democracy and its Demons (Viking, 2017).
Brent Tarter, Daydreams & Nightmares: A Virginia Family Faces Secession and War (University Press of Virginia, 2017).
In the most recent issue of The Civil War Monitor, which I received yesterday, there is a Q & A with Elizabeth Brown Pryor’s sister, Dr. Beverly Louise Brown, who oversaw the book’s publication.
There is also an interesting article about Carl Sandberg by Mark Grimsley.
The Dunbar received a nice write up earlier this week in the New York Times.
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor also received a good review, https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/books/review/original-black-elite-elizabeth-dowling-taylor.html?_r=0&referer=https://mobile-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/books/review/10-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.amp.html?amp_js_v=7
Pryor’s book got a nice review in the New York Times:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/books/review/six-encounters-with-lincoln-elizabeth-brown-pryor.html
Hi Pat,
Reading it now. It’s well written and thought provoking. I can anticipate certain places where it will receive push back. The first chapter explores Lincoln’s relationship with the military through the lens of a March 12, 1861 formal review of high-ranking officers at the White House. Pryor is on solid ground (I think) when exploring this relationship early on, but less so as the war evolved. Still, it is well worth reading.
I’ve started reading it and, yes, there will be objections. Already, I find her unduly critical and judgmental.
Hi Brad,
I tend to agree. Just finished the chapter on emancipation that features Sgt. Lucien Waters, who was outspoken about his abolitionism. Pryor uses him as a foil against Lincoln, but her analysis of his evolving views on race and emancipation don’t break any new ground. That said, it is an entertaining read and at times thought provoking, but it doesn’t rise to the level of Reading the Man. That it doesn’t meet that standard should not be taken as a criticism.