Allen C. Guelzo, Redeeming the Great Emancipator

Abstract

In the latest of his many books on Lincoln, Allen C. Guelzo argues that the “redeemer president” is himself in need of redemption—redemption from a contemporary mindset that refuses to acknowledge moral indebtedness. Challenging various falsifications of the past, from the neo-abolitionist claim of “self emancipation” to simplistic accounts of the postwar failure of emancipation, Guelzo offers a richly textured and fearless brief for Lincoln’s crucial role in emancipation.