The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War

by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

Book Overview

A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War Most Americans consider Abraham Lincoln to be the greatest president in history. His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom. But what if most everything you knew about Lincoln were false? What if, instead of an American hero who sought to free the slaves,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761526463
• ISBN13: 9780761526469
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Forum
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Same lies, new book jacket

I grew up in The Deep South and everybody always has an excuse about why The South wasn't that bad or how it was misunderstood: family, friends, and teachers. It is just a bunch of bs, Lincoln wasn't perfect and he certainly had his faults, but as much as I love my home, The South absolutely deserved to burn for slavery. The main mistake Lincoln made was not having every Confederate Officer, Politician, and Plantation Owner rounded up and summarily executed. This is just another one on the pile of Lost Cause lies

Based on errors

The real agenda is the one the author has. He is a neo-confederate who supports secession. He can have his own opinions, but not his own facts. Lincoln didn't start this war. And the war was about slavery, something the author completely denies.

Fascinating

I always suspected that I was not being taught the whole truth about Lincoln. He has been put on such a high pedestal that you would think he was infallible. I have read several books about Lincoln, some pro and some con and some a little of both. The Real Lincoln seems to gel more with what I have researched through his own writings, through historical texts, and through the words of other historians. All the critics of Thomas J. DiLorenzo's The Real Lincoln are closing their eyes to the truth and historical fact. But don't just believe this author - do your own research. Lincoln was no savior, Lincoln was a tyrant who did more to destroy our Constitution and our Founders' ideals than any other President in history.

Baffled by the criticism of this book

I read this book after seeing a few libertarian critiques of Lincoln, thinking they made sense, and hearing this was a good summary of the libertarian arguments against Lincoln. I found the book very compelling, and would ask critics of the book and Lincoln to stop focusing on the trees and look at the forest of Lincoln: -Why did habeas corpus have to be suspended? -If slavery was the reason for going to war, why was the Emancipation Proclamation not issued until the war was over a year old, and why did it explicitly keep slaves in border states enslaved? -Why did Lincoln imprison thousands of Americans and shut down tens if not hundreds of newspapers? Even if you think the author selectively picks and chooses quotes of various people to make his points, it's hard to read this book, think about what actually happened from 1861-1865, and not have a much different opinion of Lincoln than what most of the United States currently does.

When a book is controversial - check its critics

DiLorenzo's book challenged virtually everything I thought I knew about Lincoln, so I did the logical thing - I looked into what points his critics cited in panning his book. I was surprised by what I found. Most critics challenged his "right" to be a historian, slamming him for citing the wrong edition of a book (right page, wrong edition), or citing to the wrong page of a book. Other criticisms were conclusory and not fact-based. When the smoke had cleared, it seemed that the major criticisms were nits picked by those adored Lincoln. None confronted DiLorenzo's facts. (This is a far cry from, for example, the Michael A. Bellesiles book, "Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture", whose critics shredded the book on a factual basis.) So I read the book. And was blown away. Here is the explanation for how America went from the land of the free to the land of the government-dominated. Here is a thorough explanation how the Federal Government went from a minimalist government with scant intrusion into the lives of its people, to the modern day Leviathan which consumes 1/3 of every dollar we earn and gives us endless regulation and grief. Here is the seed of the welfare state, the precursor to Roosevelt's "New Deal" and Johnson's "Great Society" - and the beginning of the end of the Constitution. Lincoln locked up thousands of those who disagreed with him. He cared not at all about slavery as a moral issue. He created the sort of Federal spending on programs that were previously successful private ventures, and which, as government programs, have put us trillions of dollars in debt. He destroyed the sovereignty of the states and laid the groundwork for George Bush to imprison people without charges, without access to counsel, without the right to confront accusers and ultimately without right to trial. Dilorenzo's book helped me to see Lincoln in a new light. Lincoln: Responsible for more American deaths than any other president (nearly as many were killed in Lincoln's conquest of the Southern states than in all other wars combined). Lincoln: A war criminal who sent armies to attack the civilians of the South (not just Sherman, but all his generals). Lincoln: Consolidating government power over the people though the use of gun and bayonet. Lincoln: America's Joe Stalin. Read this book.