Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race by George M. Fredrickson

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Ian Binnington

Abstract

Abraham Lincoln's positions on race and slavery remain a persistent tension for any student of Lincoln. Was Lincoln the Great Emancipator or was he an opportunistic white supremacist? The best answer is that Lincoln was wholly neither and yet, to an extent, he was both. Into this contentious arena comes distinguished historian George M. Fredrickson, in this publication of his 2006 W.E.B. DuBois Lectures at Harvard University. Regrettably for the historical community, Fredrickson passed away the week after the publication of Big Enough to Be Inconsistent.

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Book Reviews