Archive for December, 2007
« Previous Entries2008 Lincoln Symposium, Feb. 11-12, Springfield, IL
Thursday, December 20th, 2007The Abraham Lincoln Association has announced the lineup for the 2008 Lincoln Symposium and, I must say, it is quite impressive! This year, the event has been expanded to two days. As always, however, the program remains free of charge and is open to the public. Here is the lineup: Monday, February 11, 2008, 1-4 [...]
Psychic Lincoln?
Monday, December 17th, 2007The Chicago Sun Times ran an article this morning about a curious new book called, The Psychic Life of Abraham Lincoln. Surprisingly, the author claims that Lincoln “was a pretty psychic guy.” I’ve not read the book, nor do I know how to quantify one’s psychic ability; nonetheless, I want to take issue with [...]
Countdown to Sumter–Part 2
Friday, December 14th, 2007Just after the War of 1812, the American military began building a series of forts on the Southern coast of the United States. The plans for Charleston, South Carolina were ambitious. Beginning in 1829, engineers imported 70,000 tons of New England granite to build up a sandbar in the middle of the harbor. They built [...]
Mary Todd Lincoln’s Birthday
Thursday, December 13th, 2007Today is Mary Todd Lincoln’s birthday. This is the earliest daguerreotype of Mary. It was taken sometime in 1846 when Lincoln was running for Congress. Though she looks a bit anxious, her eyes are full of life. There is something in her expression that says she is interested in what the future holds. As the [...]
News on Burlingame’s Multi-volume Lincoln Bio
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007Special thanks to Andrew Wagenhoffer, who runs a fine blog called Civil War Books and Authors, for calling my attention to a new story in The Biographer’s Craft on Michael Burlingame. For those of you unfamiliar with Burlingame’s work…get familiar with it! His 1997 offering The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln is magnificent, as are [...]
Countdown to Sumter–Part 1
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007There were a number of very vocal Americans who were dissatisfied with the result of the Election of 1860. There were many threats, but nothing catastrophic had happened. No state had left the Union yet, but the Buchanan administration was worried. Early in November they sent an inspector to the center of secessionism, Charleston, South [...]
John Brown Fetches $97,750
Monday, December 10th, 2007I have always been fascinated by John Brown. No doubt about it, he is one of the most controversial figures in American history. To call him an abolitionist is an understatement. He was a religious zealot who genuinely believed he was doing God’s work. To some Northerners, he was Moses; to many others, he was [...]
“The Mystic Chords of Memory”
Friday, December 7th, 2007It is hard to look at today’s date and not think of 1941. Historians often highlight decisive moments in history. We talk about watershed events that transformed societies, countries, and the world. But, I fear that traditional history often fails us. We can read about moments in time, but can we ever really recover the [...]
A Dozen Reasons Why Google Books is Good
Thursday, December 6th, 2007I’ve known about Google Books for quite sometime, but I have never searched it as thoroughly as I should have. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Google has collected thousands of books and made the scanned images available for you on the internet. I’m not just talking about a book cover and an index [...]
National Archives: The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth
Tuesday, December 4th, 2007Back in April I reported on the new Nicholas Cage film, National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets. Though the film is a work of fiction set in modern-day America, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln does play a part in the plot. The film is set to be released on December 21, 2007. Today, I [...]
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