Dual Book Review: Lincoln at Gettysburg and Lincoln at Cooper Union

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America by Garry Wills

Lincoln at Copper Union: The Speech that Made Abraham Lincoln President by Harold Holzer

Each of these books covers a single important speech by Abraham Lincoln. The Cooper Union Address set a course for his presidential quest, and the famous Gettysburg Address reset the course of the war. The speeches were delivered about 3.5 years apart. The Cooper Union Address was given in New York City on February 27, 1860, prior to Lincoln’s nomination as the Republican presidential candidate. The Gettysburg Address was delivered on November 19, 1863, about four months after the battle.

Both books are highly readable and well-researched. Wills won the Pulitzer Prize for Lincoln at Gettysburg, and Holzer won the Lincoln Prize for his book on the Cooper Union Address.

It might seem hard to write an entire book about a single speech, but Wills and Holzer had no difficulty filling the pages. More importantly, readers will have no problem gobbling them up. The books are kept interesting by providing context, motivations, lifestyle, period travel, and the supposed Lincoln collaboration with others in his political circle. I say supposed because Lincoln sought out advice and gave everyone the impression that he valued their suggestions and edits, however he used these changes sparingly. To a degree, this was a Lincoln technique for building support for an address before delivering it.

The pair of speeches has many similarities. Both were high-minded. Both had an important objective. Both advanced the abolition of slavery. Both were crafted to be heard and read. Both surprised their audiences. Both were memorable. They also had differences, the greatest being length. The Cooper Union Address was nearly an hour and at over seven thousand words, one of Lincoln’s longest speeches, while the Gettysburg Address took only two minutes to deliver and contained a mere 272 words.

If you are interested in Abraham Lincoln or how to craft a great speech, these books are indispensable. They are well-written, thoroughly researched, and fascinating reads.

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