Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction. By Allen C. Guelzo. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2009. 150 pp.
Liberty University
College of Arts and Sciences
Book Review
HIUS420
Civil War and Reconstruction
Alexandria Hudson
May 1 , 2023
st
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American Historian Allen C. Guelzo’s “Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction” is a terse and
explanatory publication that presents readers with a broad overview of President Lincoln’s work,
legacy, and life. This book explores Lincoln’s political philosophy while it highlights the
obstacles he encounters and the solutions he recommended to establish a political order that
refrains from its original society that illuminates self-satisfaction and individualism. The author’s
thesis provides his envision for the book, “The biographies of Abraham Lincoln easily
outnumber those written about any other single individual in the English-speaking world. This
will be a biography of his ideas.” Guelzo’s writing contributes new interpretations and
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perspectives on Lincoln’s life and legacy.
This book is arranged into 7 chapters that concentrate on Lincoln’s political philosophies.
Guezlo’s book opens with Lincoln’s opinions on equality which can trace its roots to the
American Revolution and Enlightenment era. He emphasizes the discomfort between the
necessity for a natural intellectual and moral foundation and the concept of individual rights,
which was the core of Lincoln’s political philosophy. Guezlo next explores Lincoln’s viewpoints
on the rule of law, opportunity, freedom, slavery, and peace. He delves into the structure of
nineteenth-century liberal democratic understanding.
A major strength of this book involves its comparative technique between Lincoln’s
politics and American and trans-Atlantic liberal democracy. Guelzo illustrates the similar
mindsets between Lincoln and British and French philosophies and showcases how Lincoln was
influenced by the political currents and expansive scholars of his time. Some of these scholars
encompass Richard Cobden, John Bright, and Francois Guizot. Guelzo’s ability to compare these
influences contributes to a nuanced interpretation of Lincoln’s politics. His correlation
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administers an exemplary backdrop to Lincoln’s ideology and uncomplicates the interpretation
for readers to grasp the way he lived and the bureaucratic landscape he conducted in.
Another effective concentration of this book is the examination of obstacles and
dilemmas that challenged Lincoln during his crusade to establish the political order that he
deemed moral. The readers can recognize how Lincoln confronts the intricate controversies of
freedom, slavery, and race by how Guelzo showcases these struggles and how Lincoln desired to
accommodate the aggressive demands of individualism. Guelzo also dives into Lincoln’s legacy
and displays how Lincoln’s policies continue to frame American society and politics in today’s
world. He illuminates how Lincoln’s legacy is formed by people eager to benefit their agendas
by using him. Nevertheless, Guelzo disputes that to comprehend his legacy, readers need to
fathom Lincoln’s ideologies and how they provided a blueprint for American democracy. The
author’s exploration of Lincoln’s politics proves to be a significant reminder that the founding
fathers visualized a society that contained the foundation of freedom and equality.
This book contains few weaknesses like its brevity. The length encompassing 150 pages
requires many important events and details to be left out. The historian and author Guezlo’s work
delivers readers with a comprehensive overview of Lincoln’s life. Present are inevitable aspects
of chapters that may have desired more information. However, this displays a miniature criticism
as Guelzo accomplishes his intended goal of producing literature that is an accessible and quick
presentation of Lincoln’s legacy and life.
Overall, Guelzo exhibits his expertise on Lincoln’s life and influence while utilizing a
plethora of secondary and primary resources to demonstrate an unbiased analysis. This book
proved to explore the mind of an arguably prominent historical figure and one of America’s most
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influential and memorable presidents. Guelzo’s work on Lincoln’s upbringing, the people who
influenced his politics, and his lasting legacy is captivating and well-researched.
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Bibliography
1 Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction. By Allen C. Guelzo. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2009. pg 8.
