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"Walter Stahr, author of the ... bestseller Seward, now tells the amazing story of Lincoln's secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, the most powerful and controversial of the men close to the president. Stanton raised an army of a million men and directed it from his Washington telegraph office, with Lincoln often at his side. He arrested and imprisoned thousands for "war crimes," some serious and some merely political. He was essential to the nation's survival, and Lincoln never wavered in his support for Stanton. As Lincoln lay dying, Stanton took over the government, informing the nation of the attacks on Lincoln and others, starting the investigation of the assassination, Under Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, Stanton insisted that the army had to remain in the South, to protect blacks and Unionists, while the president wanted to withdraw the troops. It was Johnson's ill-advised attempt to remove Stanton that led to the first impeachment of a president, an impeachment Johnson survived by a single vote. The New York diarist George Templeton Strong described Stanton after his death as 'honest, patriotic, able, indefatigable, warm-hearted, unselfish, incorruptible, arbitrary, capricious, tyrannical, vindictive, hateful, and cruel." But Stanton was also Lincoln's "right-hand man," responsible with Lincoln and Grant for saving the Union. In this, the first full biography of Stanton in fifty years, Stahr restores this complicated American hero to his proper place in our national story."--Jacket.… (mere)
November 28, 2017 – Finished Reading Review This was one of the first biographies that treated its subject as human. From the first chapter, you knew Stahr was not simply fawning over Stanton, but still respected him. Stanton was a complex and complicated political figure who knew how to play the game and get things done. When he said he would be loyal to a person, position, or ideal, it seemed he was and would do what was necessary.
Stahr showed all sides of the major actors in Lincoln's presidential cabinet. All men, including Abe himself, had their strengths and their foibles. Seward shifted politically and often turned on his friends. Sherman was hesitant to engage the Confederates. Grant was a leader who drank more than he should. Lincoln occasionally didn't fully trust his generals and micromanaged them. And at the center of the story, Stanton was proud, stubborn, brash, cunning, manipulative, over-worked, and often said what he thought others wanted to hear to agree with him.
I truly enjoyed reading this biography because it reminded me, often, of how messy history is, but also how important it is to understand all elements. ( )
Oplysninger fra den engelske Almen VidenRedigér teksten, så den bliver dansk.
For my wife, Masami Miyauchi Stahr
Første ord
Oplysninger fra den engelske Almen VidenRedigér teksten, så den bliver dansk.
(Introduction) Not long after eleven o'clock on the night of April 14, 1865, a short, burly, bearded man pushed his way through the crowd on Tenth Street, up the curved front steps of a three-story brick boardinghouse, and into the small back bedroom where Abraham Lincoln was stretched on a bed, bleeding and dying.
Edwin McMasters Stanton was born on December 19, 1814, in Steubenville, Ohio.
Citater
Sidste ord
Oplysninger fra den engelske Almen VidenRedigér teksten, så den bliver dansk.
"Walter Stahr, author of the ... bestseller Seward, now tells the amazing story of Lincoln's secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, the most powerful and controversial of the men close to the president. Stanton raised an army of a million men and directed it from his Washington telegraph office, with Lincoln often at his side. He arrested and imprisoned thousands for "war crimes," some serious and some merely political. He was essential to the nation's survival, and Lincoln never wavered in his support for Stanton. As Lincoln lay dying, Stanton took over the government, informing the nation of the attacks on Lincoln and others, starting the investigation of the assassination, Under Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, Stanton insisted that the army had to remain in the South, to protect blacks and Unionists, while the president wanted to withdraw the troops. It was Johnson's ill-advised attempt to remove Stanton that led to the first impeachment of a president, an impeachment Johnson survived by a single vote. The New York diarist George Templeton Strong described Stanton after his death as 'honest, patriotic, able, indefatigable, warm-hearted, unselfish, incorruptible, arbitrary, capricious, tyrannical, vindictive, hateful, and cruel." But Stanton was also Lincoln's "right-hand man," responsible with Lincoln and Grant for saving the Union. In this, the first full biography of Stanton in fifty years, Stahr restores this complicated American hero to his proper place in our national story."--Jacket.
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(4.17)
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Review This was one of the first biographies that treated its subject as human. From the first chapter, you knew Stahr was not simply fawning over Stanton, but still respected him. Stanton was a complex and complicated political figure who knew how to play the game and get things done. When he said he would be loyal to a person, position, or ideal, it seemed he was and would do what was necessary.
Stahr showed all sides of the major actors in Lincoln's presidential cabinet. All men, including Abe himself, had their strengths and their foibles. Seward shifted politically and often turned on his friends. Sherman was hesitant to engage the Confederates. Grant was a leader who drank more than he should. Lincoln occasionally didn't fully trust his generals and micromanaged them. And at the center of the story, Stanton was proud, stubborn, brash, cunning, manipulative, over-worked, and often said what he thought others wanted to hear to agree with him.
I truly enjoyed reading this biography because it reminded me, often, of how messy history is, but also how important it is to understand all elements. (