The Gettysburg Address is one of the two most famous speeches in American history, the other being Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech." But Lincoln's speech is the most important oration in our nation's history because before these 271 words were uttered at Gettysburg the United States did not really pay attention to the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence and the idea that "all men are created equal." At the dedication of the National Cemetary at Gettysburg Lincoln declared that those who died did so in defense of that proposition. From that point on, all of the advances in civil rights in this country can be tied to the Gettysburg Address. When the nation was founded "men" meant free, adult, white, male, property owners. Consider today what is meant by "men" when we talk about equality in this country and you have an idea of what Lincoln set in motion. Without Lincoln's speech and the Union winning the Civil War, King would never have given his speech.

The only real shortcoming of "Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln: The Story of the Gettysbug Address" by Jean Fritz is that it fails to address the significance of the oration beyond the idea that it was a speech to remember. Fritz focuses on the story, both in general terms of the Civil War and the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the specifics of the occasion for the speech, including the sickness of Lincoln's son Tad and the lengthy oration by Edward Everett. The complete text of the speech is provided at the back of the book, which is a Level 3 All Aboard Reading book aimed at grades 2-3. The illustrations are mostly watercolors by Charles Robinson although there are also some historic photographs of Lincoln and his son. The important thing is that here is a book that tells the story of a great American speech and at least introduces to young students the idea that words can make a difference in the history of a nation.

Letters from the Sea takes the reader back to the turn of the century and lets them peak into the unique life of a sea captain and his family. Not only do the letters tell us of the trials and tribulations of being away from home and friends, they let us look into the warm relationship this family shared, despite being apart for years at a time.

Parker Albee uses the treasure trove of actual letters from the Colcord's along with the Joanna's and Linc's later writings to put us on the deck of the State of Maine during a storm, socializing with other families in Hong Kong Harbor and waiting in Searsport for the family to come home. It is a wonderful story of the sea and of family.

The world lost a very special person on February 8th, 1998. I remember hearing of his death the day after it happened and it was the first time I felt truly sad at the passing of someone I had never met. Julian Simon was an economist who studied a broad range of issues but he will most certainly be remembered for his breakthrough work in population economics, showing that population growth correlates with increases in human well being, not decreases. Simon turned doomsayers like Thomas Malthus on their heads and was dubbed the "doomslayer" in a Wired Magazine interview about a year before his death.

Although Simon died well before publication, his wife, Rita, was able to put together this book, working from about 900 (!) pages of manuscript that Julian wrote before his death. Unfortunately, the book seems to suffer a bit from poor editing and typographical mistakes, but that's a minor nit. I'm not a fan of biographies in general, so much of the childhood years bored me, but the chapters on his career and research are fascinating and, alas, way too short. I couldn't help but get the feeling that there were mounds of interesting anecdotes on his career and research that were left out for space reasons. It's too bad; most people who would read it would be most interested in that part. Fortunately, unlike some other autobiographies written by economists, Simon does discuss how he evolved in his thinking over the years

The book covers all the areas that Simon is well known for, including population studies, immigration, treatment of depression, advertising and the mail order business and, of course, Simon's brilliant idea for solving the problem of overbooked planes. This last item was a stroke of genius and Simon deserves a place of honor for that alone. The solution came to him in the mid-sixties, but it wasn't until 1978, when an economist was appointed head of the Civil Aeronautics Board that it was put into use. Simon was baffled as to why it took so long, but an obvious explanation never occurs to him: the airline industry was a heavily regulated, government-enforced cartel, so there was less of an incentive to innovate.

In Isaac Arnold's book, The Life Of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Arnold portyays Lincoln how he knew him. Isaac was aquainted with Abe Lincoln for over a quarter century, and that helped him in completing this wonderful biography. It does, however, lack several important facts that have now been discovered. Since Mr. Arnold wrote his book twenty years after Lincoln's death, the United States didnt have time to realize what an amazing and influential person Lincoln was. New data also shows that some of his facts in the book are proven to be wrong. Even with those minor details that are false, it doesnt take away from the intensity of the book. Being able to read his speeches and visualize Lincoln speaking is amazing and Mr. Arnold does a very good job of painting that picture.

Brian Dirck's new book on the U.S. and C.S. presidents establishes a surprising amount of continuity in American political thinking between the ratification contest of the late 1780s and the sectional conflict of the 1850s and 1860s. In doing so, it goes a long way to tie together the American Revolution and the Civil War.

In 1787, advocates of ratification of the federal constitution argued that without it, they Union would dissolve. Their vision of American Union was, as Dirck puts it (I paraphrase here), one of impersonal association, a community of strangers. Their opponents, the Antifederalists/Republicans, doubted that the Federalists' apocalyptic rhetoric accurately described reality, because the Antifederalists could not imagine that mere breakdown of the Articles of Confederation would destroy the America they knew in their hearts. They were at times downright blase' about the problems the Federalists perceived in the 1780s because of their sanguine faith in American nationality.

As Dirck shows, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis had essentially the same understandings of America: Lincoln, the Federalist, and Davis, the Antifederalist. It makes for a very engaging argument, and one that will be of great use for undergraduate teaching.

The only shortcomings of the book come at the very end, where Dirck says that Davis laid the ground for the idea that blacks were depraved and inferior by depicting the Yankees (that is, northern whites) that way. (p. 239) I for one find it unconvincing that anti-black sentiment had its origins in anti-white propaganda. Secondly, he says that Davis' statement that the United States had set upon a policy in which "no quarter is to be given and no sex to be spared" had an innovative "sexual" undertone. (pp. 238-39) Yet, Davis' claim certainly was not innovative, but was a paraphrase of a claim Thomas Jefferson had made about the British king in the Declaration of Independence (Jefferson claimed that George had sicced the Indians, whose rule of war knew no discrimination of age or sex, upon the Americans). These are minor objections, however, and the book certainly repays a careful perusal.

This publication is an great resource about the 'classic' Lincolns (all models) motorcars produced after World War II. Its got great black and white photographs of many models produced in those 50 years as well as info into the different models.

This is a paperback reprint of a book published in 1978. The message today is as timely as it was then -- or, for that matter as it was during Civil War America. Professor Nichols book is a good overview of Indian policy during the Civil War-- an often overlooked part of the Lincoln story.

The book begins with an overview of the system of Indian administration as it had developed by 1860. It was dominated by the political spoils system and by corruption resulting from the power accorded to the Indian agents. As a master of the art of pragmatic politics, Lincoln used the system -- as he needed to do--to hold the Union together-resulting in tragedy for too many of our country's Indian wards.

The book discusses the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma (then Indian territory) and their relationship to both the Union and the Confederacy. The story picks up focus, though, in the discussion of the Minnesota Sioux rebellion, the summary trials and capital sentences of over 300 Sioux Indians, and Lincoln's remission of the death sentence in all but 39 cases. Nichols tells this story well, perhaps giving Lincoln's actions less credit and less courage than they may deserve.

The book discusses Lincoln's attempts in 1862 to reform Indian policy, which were defeated by War exegencies and by Congressional inaction.He discusses a famous meeting held between Lincoln and the Indian chiefs in 1863 in the White House, again perhaps undervaluing Lincoln's intentions and the difficulties he faced.

He discusses the policy resulting from the Sioux war of concentrating the Indians under the control of the military with unsuccessful and inhumane results in Arizona and New Mexico. The book also includes an account of the too little known Sand Hill Massacre in Colorado in 1864.

The treatment of the American Indians does not constitute one of our nation's or of President Lincoln's prouder accomplishments. Professor Nichols is correct that this story deserves to be known as part of our history. The book ties Lincoln's treatment of the Indians to prevailing ideologies at the time involving a disprespect of cultural differences, to westward expansion, industrialization, the political patronage system, and, first and foresmost, the Civil War. Even Nichols appears to acknowledge that given the War, there was little that might have been done differently at the time in the way of systematic reform.

As is unfortunately the case with most histories of Indian affairs, it is easier, as Nichols does, to find a great deal of deserved fault than it is to develop answers, as he does not. This book is still worth reading as a good history of Indian affairs during the Civil War era.

The book covers all aspects of what led Lincoln to what he wrote, the reaction from what was written and what he wanted to convey.

If you truly want to know about the Gettysburg Address this is the book for you. Unlike Gary Wills' book this book deals with what actually happened at Gettysburg and why, not just the theory behind the address. In my mind, the best part is the last chapter which is simply a reprinting of a couple dozen firsthand accounts of the Address. This book is extremely readable, and the only real complaint I have is that Barton did not footnote his work, but given the era in which it was written that is understandable. If you want to truly understand the Gettysburg Address, this is the book you need to read.

...you'll really enjoy this book. It's pretty much a real textbook history of the Lincoln Motor Car company, complete with an entire review )3 pages each!) of every model right up to the Mark VIII. Many, many pictures and facts, although most pics are all black and white.