The Workshop of Democracy, 1863-1932: The American Experiment, Volume II

The second volume of Burns's acclaimed history of America, from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the Great Depression

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address pointed to a new way to preserve an old hope—that democracy might prove a vibrant and lasting form of government for people of different races, religions, and aspirations. The scars of the Civil War would not soon heal, but with that one short speech, the president held out the possibility that such a nation might not simply...