With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Special Issue of OAH's Journal of American History: Abraham Lincoln at 200 ... History and Historiography


"'Young Men for War': The Wide Awakes and Lincoln's 1860 Presidential Campaign," by Jon Grinspan

Jon Grinspan explores the influence of the forgotten campaign organization the Wide Awakes on Lincoln's 1860 election and the coming of the Civil War. This grassroots movement demonstrates the importance of novice political participants and helps explain how the 1860 campaign inadvertently led to the secession of the South.

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/grinspan.html?pr=jah962

***

"Lincoln and the Ethics of Emancipation: Universalism, Nationalism, Exceptionalism," by Dorothy Ross

Dorothy Ross argues that recent historians have emphasized Abraham Lincoln's opposition to slavery to the neglect of his ardent nationalism. Putting Lincoln's opposition to slavery in the context of his nationalism highlights the fact that allegiance to the nation had governed the country's response to slavery since the founding of the Republic.

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/ross.html?pr=jah962
_______________________________________________________________________

"The Not-So-Grand Review: Abraham Lincoln in the Journal of American History," by Allen C. Guelzo

Through an examination of the appearances of Abraham Lincoln in the pages of the Mississippi Valley Historical Review and its successor, the JAH, Allen C. Guelzo finds inadequate coverage of Lincoln in articles and substandard reviews of Lincoln books. But he notes that such tendencies mirror broader trends in twentieth-century Lincoln scholarship.

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/guelzo.html?pr=jah962

***SPECIAL ONLINE FEATURE***
The Journal of American History has created a companion online project for this special issue, featuring the full text of the articles and the interchange; a bibliography of Lincoln in the JAH; Matthew Pinsker's Web site on building the digital Lincoln; and a podcast. See http://www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/lincoln/.
_______________________________________________________________________

ROUND TABLE: Lincoln Studies at the Bicentennial
_______________________________________________________________________

Matthew Pinsker assesses the current trends in Lincoln scholarship, arguing that the subject has not been exhausted. He argues that Lincoln studies offer a test case for the future of digital scholarship and a template for new ways to present a more realistic portrait of nineteenth-century American politics grounded in an ever-wider array of documents. Following Pinsker's article, Edward L. Ayers, Catherine Clinton, Michael F. Holt, Mark E. Neely Jr., and Douglas L. Wilson offer their perspectives.

"Lincoln Theme," by Matthew Pinsker
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/pinsker.html?pr=jah962

"Lincoln's America," by Edward L. Ayers
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/ayers.html?pr=jah962

"Turning and Turning in the Widening Gyre," by Catherine Clinton
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/clinton.html?pr=jah962

"Lincoln Reconsidered," by Michael F. Holt
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/holt.html?pr=jah962

"Lincoln, Slavery, and the Nation," by Mark E. Neely Jr.
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/neely.html?pr=jah962

"Prospects for 'Lincoln 2.5'," by Douglas L. Wilson
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/wilson.html?pr=jah962

INTERCHANGE: The Global Lincoln

With the assistance of Richard Carwardine and Jay Sexton, the Interchange conversation features colleagues from several countries discussing the global Lincoln.

Participants: Eugenio F. Biagini, David W. Blight, Carolyn P. Boyd, Richard Carwardine, Kevin K. Gaines, Vinay Lal, Nicola Miller, Jorg Nagler, Jay Sexton, Adam I. P. Smith, and Odd Arne Westad

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/96.2/interchange.html?pr=jah962