The larger-than-life image Abraham Lincoln projects across the screen of American history owes much to his role as the Great Emancipator during the Civil War. Yet this noble aspect of Lincoln’s identity is precisely the dimension that some historians have cast into doubt. In a vigorous defense of America’s sixteenth president; award-winning historian and Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo refutes accusations of Lincoln’s racism and political opportunism; while candidly probing the follies of contemporary cynicism and the constraints of today’s unexamined faith in the liberating powers of individual autonomy.Redeeming the Great Emancipator enumerates Lincoln’s anti-slavery credentials; showing that a deeply held belief in the God-given rights of all people steeled the president in his commitment to emancipation and his hope for racial reconciliation. Emancipation did not achieve complete freedom for American slaves; nor was Lincoln entirely above some of the racial prejudices of his time. Nevertheless; his conscience and moral convictions far outweighed political calculations in ultimately securing freedom for black Americans.Guelzo clarifies the historical record concerning what the Emancipation Proclamation did and did not accomplish. As a policy it was imperfect; but it was far from ineffectual; as some accounts of African American self-emancipation imply. To achieve liberation required interdependence across barriers of race and status. If we fail to recognize our debt to the sacrifices and ingenuity of all the brave men and women of the past; Guelzo says; then we deny a precious part of the American and; indeed; the human community.
#1073928 in Books 2013-03-19Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.74 x .59 x 5.64l; .63 #File Name: 0674072898144 pages
Review
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. A shattering personal memoir from an Auschwitz survivorBy Fred CharatanOtto Dov Kulka; Rosenbloom Professor Emeritus of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; was an 11-year-old boy sent to Auschwitz; in September 1943. His father; he writes (p13); had been in concentration camps since 1939; ending in Auschwitz a year before Otto. He miraculously found his son; knowing he would be sent to Auschwitz with the remaining Theresienstadt survivors; to await their destruction there.Kulka's slim book of only 127 pages describes his personal experiences of the horrors of the 'Final Solution' we are only too familiar with. Wikipedia; for example; lists 60 pages of personal accounts of the Holocaust. Kulka's is illustrated with 48 chilling scenes of what remains of the site; its relics of personal property; plus other places and personalities significant to Jews. He is forced with the other prisoners to witness the public execution of four escaped and recaptured Russian prisoners (p45) with their final words; "'Za Stalina!' 'Za rodinu!'" ["For Stalin! For the homeland!"]It should not surprise us that such images have haunted Kulka for many decades; and led to dreams similar to flashbacks suffered by others either tortured or forced to submit to witness such atrocities. Chapter 6 (p51) is titled; 'Three Poems from the Brink of the Gas Chambers.' As Kulka's subtitle tells us; he reflects on the Small Death and the Great Death. But worst of all; Kulka writes on page 26; .."Schiller's 'Ode to Joy' from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; was being played opposite the crematoria of Auschwitz; a few hundred metres from the place ofexecution..." On the next page Kulka remembers..."and we are singing like little angels; our voices providing an accompaniment to the procession of the people in black who are slowly swallowed up into the crematoria."Let me end with British historian Sir Ian Kershaw's tribute to Professor Kulka on the back cover of this book:"This is one of the most remarkable testimonies to inhumanity that I know. The deeply moving recollections of Dov Kulka's boyhood years in Auschwitz; interwoven with reflections of elegaic; poetic quality; vividly convey the horror of the death-camp; the trauma of family and friends; and the indelible imprint left on the memory of a young boy who became a distinguished historian of the Holocaust. An extraordinarily important work which needs to be read."2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Childhood memories of the campsBy Bradley ThompsonThe childhood memories of Kulka of the camps are chilling and a reminder that we can never forget the horrors of all mass exterminations. This book evokes memories of listening to the stories of my friends parents who survived the Nazi death machine.1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Poignant; insightful; humanBy Release the BookhoundsThis is a book about memory-making; about how people come to terms with a past that refuses to let go. Kulka's reflections offer a wrenching insight into the humanity of a historian.
