Seeking historical insights for today's politicos
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The other day, Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced that she was “about to crack open” Boss Lincoln. She indicated to a reporter that she was most interested in what she called Lincoln’s “lost years” when he was “building a political machine before he ran for the presidency.” You can see why many online commentators speculated that this unusual summer reading recommendation was a sign of…
This fall, on November 19, 2026 —the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address— I will be delivering the Fortenbaugh Lecture at Gettysburg College.
I will be joining C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” call-in show on Saturday, July 4, 2026 from noon to 1pm ET as part of the America 250 celebrations.
In his just-published review of Boss Lincoln, noted historian Richard Carwardine emphasizes how the book depicts Lincoln’s “binary” political strategy.
Abraham Lincoln once described Thomas Jefferson’s famous Preamble as “the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together.” We should remember Lincoln’s vivid metaphor today above all days because he was using it to show his support for immigrants.
For the next week at least, I want to write about Lincoln’s evolving views on the Declaration of Independence.
One of the lowest points in my career came in April 2022 when I tried unsuccessfully to organize a resistance movement against proposed changes at the Lincoln Memorial.
“War, at the best, is terrible,” President Lincoln said on June 16, 1864, in one of his rare speeches outside of Washington, “and this war of ours, in its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most terrible.” You might even call this effort Lincoln’s “Second Pennsylvania Address.” He had spoken at Gettysburg the year before.
No American has ever been more thoughtful or deliberate in his patriotism than Abraham Lincoln.
Jamelle Bouie, a terrific columnist for the New York Times who writes frequently and deeply about American history and its insights for modern politics, has just finished reading Boss Lincoln.
