Dean and professor of American religious history at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, White (Religion and the Bill of Rights) does for Lincoln's Second Inaugural ("with malice toward none... ") something of what Garry Wills did for the Gettysburg Address: explicate Lincoln's remarks, place them in the context of the hour when they were uttered, and demonstrate how Lincoln (as usual) sought to shape public sentiment through the power of eloquent and carefully calculated rhetoric. In the process, however, White expends a great deal of ink attempting to prove a point that many will think moot. Why is it necessary to label the Second Inaugural "Lincoln's greatest speech"? Such subjective competition is dicey, especially when it comes to Lincoln, who made a habit of great eloquence, whether on Inauguration Day 1865 or at Gettysburg in 1863. There is also his "House Divided Speech" of 1858 and his 1860 remarks at New York's Cooper Union. Which of these is Lincoln's "greatest" speech? Who is to decide, and what is the point of arbitrating such questions? That said, White's book does a workmanlike job of parsing the 701 words in which Lincoln, with victory in sight, briefly laid down the philosophical framework for reconciliation between South and North, a framework grounded in simple Christian generosity. Agent, Mary Evans. (Feb. 12)
Forecast:White doesn't have the name recognition of Wills to propel this onto bestseller lists. While aimed at a wide audience, its sales will probably be limited to Lincoln- and Civil War–era buffs.
