Lincoln can be forgiven if he had trouble telling friend from foe in the border states; the citizens of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were far more divided on issues such as slavery, secession, and the suspension of habeas corpus than those in the northern states. A Kentucky native whose wife's family included slaveholders, Lincoln was intimately familiar with the regions' conflicted loyalties, and understood the importance of preserving their places in the Union. These contested areas witnessed guerrilla activities and vitriolic political and journalistic offensives that threatened to rend the masses into hostile poles. Harris (Lincoln's Last Month) takes us through the complicated decisions Lincoln had to make in order to secure the loyalty of his putative allies. Drawing on extensive research and scholarship, Harris also profiles lesser-known individuals who nevertheless played a crucial role in the unfolding of the Civil War, including Thomas Hicks, the Know-Nothing governor of Maryland, and George Prentice, the editor of the Louisville Journal. Quoting extensively from newspapers, letters, and government sources, Harris' book is a valuable resource for academics and amateur war-historians alike. 10 photographs, 1 map. (Sept.)
"After reading Harris’s account, it is impossible not to sympathize with Lincoln’s comment that the turmoil in Missouri had ‘tormented’ him ‘beyond endurance.’ Harris distinguishes his work with sound judgment, thorough research, and a readable style. Though he finds fault with Lincoln’s course of action in some instances—after rioting in Baltimore, for example, Harris asserts the new president was not careful enough to distinguish states’ rights supporters from secessionists—all in all Harris regards Lincoln’s border state policies as impressively successful. It is hard to disagree."—Indiana Magazine of History
“Harris has written a big-picture history of a topic rife with complexity and has done it well. . . . His book makes a strong argument about an important historical issue.”—Journal of American History
“A very fine book, fully worthy of its eminent award [the 2012 Lincoln Prize]. Narrative history writing at its best.”—Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association
“Harris has done something new in Lincoln and Civil War studies. . . . His probing work brings the border states back to center stage and demonstrates how and why Lincoln mastered the art of balancing competing interests without yielding on the essential priority—an insightful lesson on leadership that speaks to our own day. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“An important and impressive new study. . . . As I finished reading this outstanding study, I was reminded of Frederick Douglass’ ultimate assessment of Lincoln. ‘Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent,’ Douglass wrote in the last of his autobiographies, ‘but measuring him by the sentiment of his country—a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult—he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined.’ Professor Harris has given us a remarkable picture of Lincoln’s leadership in this well-written, exhaustively researched, and handsomely produced volume.”—Charles B. Dew, Civil War Book Review
“In this important new study, Harris examines Lincoln’s sometimes rocky relations with the border states and shows with great precision how Lincoln managed to keep the border states mostly on his side and get slavery abolished therein as well."—James M. McPherson, author of Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief
“A masterful work that probes one of Lincoln’s most persistent and intractable dilemmas.”—Daniel E. Sutherland, author of A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War
“A definitive study that adds a new level of understanding to a neglected but crucial Civil War subject.”—Harold Holzer, Chairman, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation
Henry Adams Prize winner Harris (history, emeritus, North Carolina State Univ.; Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency) has done something new in Lincoln and Civil War studies; he has written a cogent argument on the ways the politics of keeping the crucial border states in the Union informed, and almost transformed, policies on civil-military relations, emancipation, arming black troops, civil liberties, and more. Lincoln supposedly once said that he "hoped to have God on his side but must have Kentucky." Harris pinpoints the military and political reasons such a priority weighed on Lincoln. He goes deep inside the state politics especially of Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri to discover the machinations of pro-Union and pro-Southern interests to keep their states in or take them out of the Union, protect or repeal slavery, and prevent the war from degenerating into a social revolution and outlawry. Harris argues that Lincoln's broad perspective on how to win the war, his patience and forbearance, and his keen sense of political necessities and personalities saved the border states for the Union and thus did much to preserve the Union. VERDICT Harris's probing work brings the border states back to center stage and demonstrates how and why Lincoln mastered the art of balancing competing interests without yielding on the essential priority—an insightful lesson on leadership that speaks to our own day. Highly recommended.—Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
