It is little wonder that Lincoln sought to deliver more fairness in an unfair world. Rather, this account of his hardscrabble youth is less an any-boy-can-be-president morality tale than a foundation of Lincoln’s personal values and empathy informed by crushing poverty and loss. Meacham does not portray Lincoln’s backstory as mere iconography - the log cabin, the backwoods education, the rail splitting. Fueling the national disaster was the “Big Lie” of Lincoln’s day - that slavery was a justifiable institution. Jon Meacham’s excellent new biography, “And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle,” illuminates how Lincoln’s personal growth and travails enabled him to lead a nation along a fitful evolution toward freedom despite a catastrophic rebellion that denied it. While we tend to contemplate “The Great Emancipator” as fully formed well before he became the 16th president, his moral perspectives and political goals developed in a gradual process more akin to Darwin’s theories. 12, 1809, is the birthdate for both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. “And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle” by Jon Meacham (Random House)įun fact: Feb. This cover image released by Random House shows "And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle" by Jon Meacham.
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