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Lincoln and the Power of the Press

The War for Public Opinion

By: Harold Holzer

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Paperback | 29 September 2015

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Paperback
768 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.5 x 15.88 x 4.45

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“Lincoln believed that ‘with public sentiment nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.’ Harold Holzer makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Lincoln’s leadership by showing us how deftly he managed his relations with the press of his day to move public opinion forward to preserve the Union and abolish slavery.” —Doris Kearns Goodwin

From his earliest days, Lincoln devoured newspapers. As he started out in politics he wrote editorials and letters to argue his case. He spoke to the public directly through the press. He even bought a German-language newspaper to appeal to that growing electorate in his state. Lincoln alternately pampered, battled, and manipulated the three most powerful publishers of the day: Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune, James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald, and Henry Raymond of the New York Times.

When war broke out and the nation was tearing itself apart, Lincoln authorized the most widespread censorship in the nation’s history, closing down papers that were “disloyal” and even jailing or exiling editors who opposed enlistment or sympathized with secession. The telegraph, the new invention that made instant reporting possible, was moved to the office of Secretary of War Stanton to deny it to unfriendly newsmen.

Holzer shows us an activist Lincoln through journalists who covered him from his start through to the night of his assassination—when one reporter ran to the box where Lincoln was shot and emerged to write the story covered with blood. In a wholly original way, Holzer shows us politicized newspaper editors battling for power, and a masterly president using the press to speak directly to the people and shape the nation.

Industry Reviews

"Lincoln believed that 'with public sentiment nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.' Harold Holzer makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Lincoln's leadership by showing us how deftly he managed his relations with the press of his day to move public opinion forward to preserve the Union and abolish slavery."--Doris Kearns Goodwin "At no time in our history did newspapers wield more political influence than during the Civil War era, and no political figure was more aware of this influence than Abraham Lincoln. Harold Holzer's compelling narrative of the intertwined world of politics and journalism demonstrates Lincoln's canny skill in using the press to advance his own career as well as the cause of Union and freedom. A tour de force."--James M. McPherson "With his usual sparkling prose and exhaustive research, one of America's foremost scholars on the 16th president has given us a robust portrait of the nexus between American politics and the press. As much as it is a telling slice of Lincolniana -- the kind of detail-rich tapestry we have come to expect from Holzer -- it is also a lively history of mid-19th century journalism. . . . Holzer reveals an encyclopedic knowledge of the players."--John Bicknell "Roll Call " "Holzer has produced three books in one: apolitical biography of Lincoln, a portrayal of the American press during acrucial moment in history and an account of how Lincoln and the press eachhelped redefine the other." --James McGrath Morris "Washington Post "50 Notable Works of Nonfiction" (2014) " "Harold Holzer has written a fascinating study about Abraham Lincoln's extraordinary legacy to American journalism. Eye-opening, scholarly, and provocative, Lincoln and the Power of the Press adds greatly to our understanding of the presidency and its relationship to the 4th Estate."--Amanda Foreman WINNER OF THE 2016 GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE WINNER OF THE 2015 GILDER LEHRMAN LINCOLN PRIZE

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