Lincoln at Gettysburg

I loved this book because it is the most original, detailed, elegantly written, and argued examination of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg address, by common acclamation, one of the greatest and most powerful political speeches in world history.

In this Pulitzer Prize book, Wills argues that at Gettysburg, Lincoln “came to change the world, to effect an intellectual revolution”—and succeeded in doing so. “No other words,” Wills writes, could have successfully brought about both “a revolution in thought” and  “a revolution in style.” Wills concludes that the address “wove a spell that has not, yet, been broken,” as Lincoln “called up a… show more.

The 250-odd words of the Gettysburg Address are some of the most stirring ever spoken.

Garry Wills’s classic study of how Lincoln came to make that speech is a wonderfully rich investigation of their historical context and literary influences, right back to Pericles’s funeral oration. Wills argues that Lincoln’s speech changed America, and changed the way speeches themselves would come to be made.

It shows how so much can go into so apparently little – and what a difference that can make.  

Wills’ book is about a speech only 272 words long…but it turns out to be about way more than that.

The Gettysburg Address changed America’s foundational principle for all time, from the Constitution’s bland, vague goal of forming “a more perfect Union” to the Declaration of Independence’s bold statement that “all men are created equal.”

How Lincoln pulled it off, and just as importantly, why he did and what it meant, is a great story, one that Wills tells with zeal and purpose.

You’ll never think about “The Gettysburg Address” the same way after reading this book.