LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES (Part the Second)

In which we continue our coverage of the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates in 1858.

Our book recommendations for this episode are:

Stephen A. Douglas by Robert Johannsen.  About this book, Lincoln scholar David Herbert Donald said, “At once a work of enormous scholarship and of deep insight. Here, for the first time, is the full story of a great career, told with such skill that we can now understand why Abraham Lincoln found the ‘Little Giant’ the most formidable political rival he ever faced.”

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald.  About this book, Pulitzer-Prize winning Lincoln historian Mark E. Neely Jr said, “The best biography of Lincoln I have ever read.”

Listen to Episode 19: LincolnDouglasDebatesPartSecond

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES (Part the First)

Stephen Douglas (1813-1861)

In which we give the background to the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858, and then we start in on our coverage of the debates.

Our book recommendation for this episode is Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America by Allen C. Guelzo.  

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer.  Two years later, he was elected president.  What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country’s most formidable politician.  As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, and the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation. 

Listen to Episode 18: LincolnDouglasDebatesPartFirst