"The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery" by Eric Foner

426 pages

Abraham Lincoln's views about slavery and African Americans in general are often misunderstood. Here, Foner examines Lincoln's speeches, writings, law career, and political decisions to show what the 16th president really thought about what was probably the most controversial issue of his time. It's clear that Lincoln's views were more complex than many people realize: while he hated slavery, he also publicly rejected political and social equality for blacks, hesitated to emancipate slaves and accept black recruits into the Union army, and advocated sending blacks to overseas colonies instead of allowing them to integrate into American society. However, his opinion of slavery and African Americans did evolve throughout his life, especially during the Civil War, and he became more determined to free the slaves and improve their situations as he got older. Also, Foner argues, Lincoln went further than any president before him to represent the rights of black people in America, and his presidency marked a shift in the way Americans thought about race, rights, and citizenship.

I learned a lot from this book, and much of it surprised me. Abraham Lincoln is often deified as the "Great Emancipator" (from my perspective, at least), and while part of this reputation is deserved, he wasn't as revolutionary as some of us are taught in school. I didn't realize how racist some of Lincoln's views were. That said, he was still progressive in the context of his political and social environment, and he did become more sympathetic to the African-American cause as time went by. I think Foner does a good job of taking lots of historical details and turning them into an interesting narrative, and I enjoyed this book all the way through.