"Lincoln at Gettysburg, The Words That Remade America" had been sitting on my bookshelf for over 30 years. After reading "The Demon of Unrest," it felt like the right follow-up. I went in with no expectations, but I was surprised by how deep the analysis went and how much Lincoln’s words were shaped by the Greek Revival and the rural-cemetery movement.

Garry Wills does a great job of putting the speech in context, both in the moment and in history. I was amazed at the subtle details in his analysis and really appreciated the way he examined different accounts of the speech from the time. Even the appendices were a great read.

In a time of division, anger, misinformation, and ignorance, this book gave me a little hope that we might one day see another leader with Lincoln’s intellect and moral clarity. It was a sobering read that really transported me to that moment in history and deepened my respect for Lincoln’s legacy.

A very comprehensive analysis of not only what led Lincoln to the point where he delivered the Gettysburg Address but also the political and socioeconomic thinking that prepared the country for that moment in time. The Gettysburg Address, along with Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, stand as two of the most influential documents in history that shaped the outlook of The United States, after the Declaration of Independence, into the next century. Very detailed and deep analysis.

This was a great book… well-researched, and deep in background and detail! And therein lies my 4 star rating… at times, the detail was almost tedious. Maybe some of the detail could have been an appendix or perhaps an up front summary and then return to the narrative story. Don’t get me wrong… I LIKED this book! And have chosen it as one I’ll keep. It was just a bit much in a few spots.

I'm very mixed about this book which started off strong but ground to a halt about halfway through. The book is a very deep exegesis of the Gettysburg Address and Transendental thought in general. The main point, that the Civil War was a test of the ideals presented in the Declaration of Independence, gets overshadowed by redundancy of Wills' analysis. But the first part of the book, dealing with a quick history of the Gettysburg cemetery and Victorian fascination with death were unexpected and interesting. There's also a kind of parable in this book about freedom in our time (the early 21st century) that wasn't intended when the book was written 25 or so years ago. Unless you're a student of the era or American lit, this probably isn't the book for you.

I wish the entire text had been similar to the final chapter "Revolution in Style" where the author spent time looking at sentence construction, brevity, grammar, stuff like that. The previous 100 pages were really mostly about the political environment. The level of scholarship is undeniable, but it was a bit of a yawner for me, though I like Garry Wills's other work such as "Nixon Agonistes."

The discussion of the relationship of the talk to ancient Greek rhetoric was a bit beyond me. But overall, an interesting read.

Mean mom that I am, I made my kids memorize the Gettysburg Address when they were little. Later when we visited the battle site they recited it standing near Little Round Top overlooking where Col. Chamberlain made his famous downhill bayonet charge.  I love these words. This book breaks down the speech and examines it in detail--maybe too much detail for those not so enamored as I am. But for a patriot, philologist and/or Civil War buff, it's a must read!

Wills is such a unique writers. This is only my second time reading him, but I can clearly see why this is one of his most highly regarded books. There is a certain tone to his writing that just reminds of a different, older, and problematically idealized era of pubic intellectuals. There are attacks on a refutations of a number of historians and writers and even a group of "psychobiographers" of Lincoln that I was never quite able to identify in the literature. This makes the stakes for his arguments feel heightened and it was as close to thrilling as you can get to read him land an argument about Greek Rhetoric or the Transcendental reading of the Declaration of Independence.

The book itself is also worth reading just to see the origin of the single speech study of Lincoln genre. Wills is willing to stray pretty far from the text, but always keep his thesis near the top of his reader's mind. A really rewarding, brisk read that is a must for anyone interested in Lincoln or the Civil War.

Never has a speech gotten it more completely backwards as when Lincoln said, "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." It is almost certain that more people can recite Lincoln's opening line of "Four score and seven years ago," than would be able to name, let alone describe, Pickett's charge. That two hundred, seventy-two words could have such lasting impact is a testament both to Abraham Lincoln's eloquent understanding of the United States as an ideal and the revolutionary ideal he referenced when he spoke of events eighty-seven years prior when our founding fathers declared that all men are created equal. That an entire book dedicated to those few words proves justified, yet still insufficient to the task of describing their long-lasting impact, is more a testament to the address than it is an indictment of the book. Lincoln's message remains as urgent today as it was nearly eight score ago. Lincoln at Gettysburg helps explain why that is so.

More than simple words

Altough, I had read Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address many times, I did not fully understand its impact before reading this book. Now I truly appreciate the climate, the political and cultural setting. Now I appreciate the background and influence of the Greek thinking and speaking for speeches at the event, and Lincoln's craftsmanship and political savvvy. If you only read one book this year, make it this one.

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills
317 pages, Hardcover. Published 1992 by Simon & Schuster.

GR summary -
In a masterly work, Garry Wills shows how Lincoln reached back to the Declaration of Independence to write the greatest speech in the nation’s history.

The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling demonstration than in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was asked to memorialize the gruesome battle. Instead he gave the whole nation “a new birth of freedom” in the space of a mere 272 words. His entire life and previous training and his deep political experience went into this, his revolutionary masterpiece.

By examining both the address and Lincoln in their historical moment and cultural frame, Wills breathes new life into words we thought we knew, and reveals much about a president so mythologized but often misunderstood. Wills shows how Lincoln came to change the world and to effect an intellectual revolution, how his words had to and did complete the work of the guns, and how Lincoln wove a spell that has not yet been broken.

My thoughts -
For me this book is profound and intimate look and analysis of the historical and contemporary influence of Lincoln that contributed to his most famous speech delivered on November 19, 1963, at the battleground site. President Lincoln is, by far, my most favored American statesman, the likes of which I have not experienced in my lifetime.

Just take a moment to read, absorb, and reflect on his words.

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

I can't say I'm very familiar with Lincoln or the time period. This book gave a masterful depiction of the environment and atmosphere surrounding the Gettysburg address in the prologue. The rest of the book analyzed different influences that helped shape this speech into what it became.

I imagine this is not an introductory book to the subject and assumes quite a bit of knowledge in order to fully appreciate it. However, it does present a window into some themes and ideas that sparked further interest and made me want to read more from and about this time.