[Englecturers] John Briggs' new book on Lincoln!

[englecturers at lists.ucr.edu]

Below is a description and some early reviews of Professor John Briggs' 
latest book, *Lincoln's Speeches Reconsidered*, published by John Hopkins 
University Press (2005). The book can be ordered at the John Hopkins 
University Press website.

Please join me in congratulating him on this terrific accomplishment!

Dean Papas

Description:

Throughout the fractious years of the mid-nineteenth century, Abraham 
Lincoln's speeches imparted reason and guidance to a troubled nation. 
Lincoln's words were never universally praised. But they resonated with 
fellow legislators and the public, especially when he spoke on such volatile 
subjects as mob rule, temperance, the Mexican War, slavery and its 
expansion, and the justice of a war for freedom and union.

In this close examination, John Channing Briggs reveals how the process of 
studying, writing, and delivering speeches helped Lincoln develop the ideas 
with which he would so profoundly change history. Briggs follows Lincoln's 
thought process through a careful chronological reading of his oratory, 
ranging from Lincoln's 1838 speech to the Springfield Lyceum to his second 
inaugural address.

Recalling David Herbert Donald's celebrated revisionist essays (Lincoln 
Reconsidered, 1947), Briggs's study provides students of Lincoln with new 
insight into his words, intentions, and image.

Reviews

"Most books about Abraham Lincoln can be taken or left alone. This book 
merits attention for at least two important reasons: it takes a fresh and 
original look at the major speeches of Abraham Lincoln, and it manages to 
shed new light on some of the most familiar of all American texts."--Douglas 
L. Wilson, Knox College

"An invaluable contribution to the study of American political rhetoric and 
to Lincoln studies."--James Engell, Chair, Department of English and 
American Literature and Language, Harvard University

"A masterly study of Lincoln's pre-presidential speeches that conveys the 
clarity, accuracy, simplicity and depth of his words"--Harvey C. Mansfield, 
Harvard University
Author Information

John Channing Briggs is a professor of English at the University of 
California, Riverside.

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