Abraham Lincoln – Page 11

Congratulations to Fire of Genius Goodreads Giveaway Winners!

By David J. Kent August 2, 2022 August 2, 2022 Abraham Lincoln

The waiting is over. The ten winners of the Goodreads Giveaway of my new book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, have been randomly chosen by Goodreads from the entrants. I’ve sent the list to the publisher to have brand new print books sent out as soon as possible. Congratulations to:

There were over 2500 entries for the Giveaway. The books are completely free to the winners, who I hope will provide fair and honest reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever they leave reviews. I hope you enjoy the book.

Didn’t win? Keep an eye out for a new Goodreads Giveaway to be started soon, this time for 100 Kindle book versions of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius.

Of course, you can also buy the book. You can pre-order the book now on the publisher’s website and all the major bookseller sources. Release data is September 1st, which is coming very soon.

Thank you all for supporting this project!

Want to come to a book signing? Check out my scheduled events (more being added daily).

Release date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

While you’re here, check out the various posts on Lincolnian.org related to our recent Lincoln Memorial Centennial program. For those who missed it, C-SPAN will be replaying the event at 3 pm on June 18th on CSPAN2.

The book is available for pre-order on the Rowman & Littlefield website (Lyons Press is a trade imprint of Rowman). You can also pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). Release date is scheduled for September 1, 2022.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Last Chance to Win a Hard Copy of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius on Goodreads

By David J. Kent July 29, 2022 July 29, 2022 Abraham Lincoln

We’re in the final stretch. But hurry – there are only two days left (and counting down) to enter to win a hard copy of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius on Goodreads. For those who don’t know, Goodreads is a social cataloging website that allows people to track their reading, search its vast database of books, and, you guessed it, win free books. Now you can win one of ten free hardcover copies of my newest book.

Click here for a chance to win a copy of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius!

Just click on the “Enter Giveaway” button and follow instructions. The giveaway runs from July 4th through July 31st.

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius will be officially released on September 1st. You can pre-order it on the websites of Rowman & Littlefield, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your favorite independent bookstore, and everywhere else books are sold.

Want to come to a book signing? Check out my scheduled events (more being added daily).

Release date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Abraham Lincoln on the Value of Science

By David J. Kent July 21, 2022 July 21, 2022 Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln Room Abraham Lincoln understood the value of science to ordinary Americans.

Lincoln’s life spanned one of the greatest periods of scientific and technological growth in our national history. Lincoln not only lived through it, he recognized and encouraged it. Most know he grew up on farms, but not how much science he learned there. Most know his formal education “did not amount to one year,” but not how his self-study led to an understanding and skill in mathematics far above his peers. Most know he completed two flatboat trips, but not the extent of his life on the waters. Many have heard he is the only president with a patent, but not how he pressed for technological improvements that would change the face of the Midwest, and in the process growing Chicago from a tiny lakeside hamlet into a pivotal hub for transportation and economic development. Some may know about his life as a lawyer on the circuit, but not how he set legal precedents critical to the future of westward American expansion. We know he emancipated enslaved people, but not how science and technology facilitated the expansion of slavery in the United States, and Lincoln’s struggles to contain it.

The state of science in early nineteenth century United States was far behind that of Europe. Most American men of science received their training by studying with the great scientists in Germany, England, or France. Science was the realm of the elite, wealthy men with the money and leisure time to spend hours studying what was often esoteric, of little value to the immediate needs of the majority of Americans. Most pure science never trickled down to the masses. In fact, Europeans and some eastern United States scientists saw little need to bring science to the public, who they felt were too ignorant and incapable to make use of it. Renowned scientists like James Hall, James Dana, John Torrey, and Asa Gray all preferred writing for other scientists only, the “ivory tower” in which scientific jargon limited comprehension only to those trained in the particular fields of endeavor. To satisfy the “vulgar appetites of the people,” James Dana complained, required science to be “diluted and mixed with a sufficient amount of the spirit of the age.” Some exceptions like mathematician Elias Loomis felt that the “scientific taste of the community” was important to cultivate. Others such as Louis Agassiz conducted public lectures, believing that education of the masses was an overall benefit to society. But mostly, science was a luxury of the leisure class.

Many politicians also thought America was becoming too democratic, that too much power was devolving to the masses. The aging Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, warned Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831 that “a mere democracy is but a mob.” He disdained the masses and longed for the “old aristocratic institutions” that helped make him wealthy and politically powerful. Lincoln felt differently. While he would himself warn against the dangers of mob rule, he joined former president James Madison in his faith in the people’s power of self-government.

Lincoln was not a scientist. He was not even the first president to have an interest in science. Thomas Jefferson was more of an inventor, concocting everything from clocks, a revolving bookstand, a plow, and scientific instruments, although he never obtained any patents. Jefferson, like George Washington before him, did some surveying, a hobby that Lincoln would learn as a trade early in his adult life. Jefferson also kept meticulous records of the weather around Monticello, his Virginia estate. Jefferson’s scientific knowledge was unequalled in his time. But Jefferson believed the economy should be primarily based on agriculture. While he claimed to envision “the rolling out of a republic in which small independent farmers would become foot-soldiers of the infant nation and the guardians of its liberty,” in reality he owned a large plantation and enslaved more than six hundred men, women, and children in his lifetime. Slave labor enabled Jefferson the privilege of intellectual pursuit. Jefferson may have been more of a scientist than Lincoln, but Jefferson saw science as a benefit for the few while Lincoln saw its potential to benefit the many.

Lincoln had more in common with our sixth president, John Quincy Adams. Adams was not a scientist himself but wrote a treatise on the reform of weights and measures. His nearly religious promotion of astronomical observatories helped create the study of astronomy in America, pushing in an 1843 oration the practical value of astronomy. He reminded humanity to look “heavenward” as if “the special purpose of their creation” was “observation of the stars.” During his tenure as a congressman following his presidency, Adams fought against both anti-British and anti-federalist biases to get the Smithson bequest devoted to scientific research. Like Adams, Lincoln saw science and technology as something that could improve the lives of all Americans. He saw a mechanism by which all men could better their condition.

[The above is adapted from the Introduction of my forthcoming book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America.]

There is still time to win one of ten free print copies of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius on Goodreads. Click here and follow the directions to Enter the Giveaway!

Want to come to a book signing? Check out my scheduled events (more being added daily).

Release date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Win Free Copies of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius on Goodreads

By David J. Kent July 14, 2022 July 14, 2022 Abraham Lincoln

Goodreads is a social cataloging website that allows people to track their reading, search its vast database of books, and, you guessed it, win free books. Now you can win one of ten free hardcover copies of my newest book.

Click here for a chance to win a copy of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius!

Just click on the “Enter Giveaway” button and follow instructions. The giveaway runs from July 4th through July 31st.

You can also click on the Goodreads Book Giveaway on the top right of this page!

Here’s a quick overview of the book:

Many politicians have turned away from science in recent years, despite the world being plunged into a global pandemic and the critical need to act on climate change. It wasn’t always so. Several early presidents supported scientific research, and Abraham Lincoln was fascinated by science and technology, which was undergoing a period of rapid growth during his lifetime. Unlike Thomas Jefferson and other educated eastern elites, Lincoln saw the benefit of science and technology to the common man, a mechanism that could aid the goal of “bettering one’s condition.”

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius offers the first holistic look at Lincoln’s fascination with science and technology. That fascination can be seen threading through his remarkable life, his commitment to self-study and self-improvement, his careers as a lawyer and politician, and finally, to his presidency.

Always a Whig, Lincoln would tell his best friend, Lincoln embraced “the Whig Way” of internal improvements. Many of these were brought on by technological advances like steam engines, railroads, and telegraphs. Lincoln encouraged development even in the face of opposition. When he didn’t understand something, he “did the work” of finding books and experts from which he could learn. He strived to improve himself through lifetime study of mathematics, astronomy, and hydrology, while developing expertise in mechanics and other technological advances. Lincoln always had an eye on the future and how progress could be extended to all Americans.

Lincoln saw the need for institutionalizing scientific and technological advancement. He understood that technology wasn’t always good for the masses, something that we continue to find today. Invention of the cotton gin made production of cotton more efficient, for example, and thus more profitable. Rather than reducing the need for enslaved labor, it increased it by making the cultivation of ever-growing cotton acreage more and more profitable. Lincoln dealt with “scientific racism,” the spurious idea that superiority was ingrained in the color of our skin. When the issue of slavery led to conflict, the Civil War became an incubator for new inventions. Lincoln understood both the value of technology to winning the war and the need to direct improvements to enhance the value to individuals and society. Lincoln would bring the Whig way national and set the stage for the modernization of America.

All of this is documented in the same breezy, story-telling style that enthralled readers in his previous best-selling books on Lincoln, Tesla, and Edison.

You can read more about the book on Goodreads and on the various bookseller websites.

Click here for a chance to win a copy of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius!

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Lincoln: The Fire of Genius Now Available as Kindle and Nook Books

By David J. Kent June 30, 2022 December 23, 2023 Abraham Lincoln

Countdown to release date As the countdown begins for the September 1st release of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, the format options keep increasing.

On both Barnes & Noble and Amazon you can pre-order as a hardcover book.

Amazon also lets you pre-order a Kindle version of the book.

Barnes & Noble has its own e-book format and you can now pre-order Fire of Genius as a Nook book.

You can also order the hardcover and various e-book versions on the publisher’s website at Rowman & Littlefield. They will also have links to other booksellers who will carry the book.

Finally, you can go to the Goodreads listing. Under the book cover photo, click on “Want to Read” to add it to your reading list, then click on the down arrow next to where it says “Kindle $21.49” and you’ll be able to follow to a long list of booksellers where you can order the book. See this photo:

All of these booksellers offer price guarantees, which means any reductions in price between now and release date will automatically be applied to your purchase.

But wait, there’s more!

The book will also be released as an audio book and on mp3 CDs. I’ll provide updates when those become available.

And for those who like to sample before you buy, there will be that too. Amazon offers its “Look Inside” feature so you can check out the table of contents and some of the chapters. Just click on the book cover and scroll through the sample.

Barnes & Noble offers a preview as well. Look for the folded page flap with the red arrow on the bottom right corner of the book cover. Click there and a “read an excerpt of the book” will pop up for your reading pleasure.

Bookmark your preferred bookseller’s page for Fire of Genius and check back periodically to see if the format you want has become available. All should be up long before the September 1st release date.

Prefer your local independent bookstore? Check out their websites because they will offer various formats as well. Next time you’re in their store, make sure to ask them when they’ll have the book in stock. They’ll even hold one for you if you ask nicely.

One final note – Pre-ordering increases the chances of the book making it onto bestseller lists, so doing so helps the author! Plus, you’ll be assured of being one of the first to get a copy!

Want to come to a book signing? Check out my scheduled events (more being added daily).

Release date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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C-SPAN Posts Recording of Lincoln Memorial Centennial Program

By David J. Kent June 21, 2022 June 21, 2022 Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln Memorial Centennial May 22 2022 As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of being the master of ceremonies of the Lincoln Memorial Centennial program held on the Memorial steps May 22, 2022. C-SPAN (as well as other media) was there to record it, and they have now posted the full 2-hour video on their website. You can watch the program here:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?520493-1/lincoln-memorial-centennial-ceremony

C-SPAN did a wonderful job of onsite production (three cameras, excellent direction) and worked their fantastic post-production magic to create an eminently professional broadcast video. Lincoln Group of DC member Ed Epstein had this to say on Lincolnian.org:

The two-hour event, which a C-SPAN crew recorded live on Sunday, May 22, was hosted by Lincoln Group president David Kent and featured some thought-provoking speakers and great entertainers. In the photo at left by Bruce Guthrie, singer Felicia Curry sang the Star-Spangled Banner to open the proceedings, which were co-sponsored by the National Park Service and the Lincoln Forum.

The recorded program premiered on C-SPAN 2 on June 18.

The production’s quality is great and catches the atmosphere of the day’s events. It also shows the steady stream of visitors heading to and from the memorial, which draws some eight million visitors a year. It is the most visited memorial in the nation’s capital.

The program was the culmination of a year’s effort led by the Lincoln Group of DC in coordination with the National Park Service and co-sponsored by The Lincoln Forum. As president of the Lincoln Group, I played the primary role of organizing the event (along with the amazing work of many Lincoln Group board members). We had a stellar group of speakers, including Chuck Sams, the director of the National Park Service, Lincoln scholars Harold Holzer and Edna Greene Medford, African American Civil War Museum director Frank Smith, and our keynote speaker, Charlotte Morris, president of Tuskegee University. Also part of the program were representatives from MOLLUS, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Musical performances were by the United States Marine Band “The President’s Own” Brass Quintet and by the incredible Felicia Curry, who sang the national anthem and two selections from Marian Anderson’s groundbreaking 1939 concert on the Memorial’s steps. The words of Lincoln and a poem read at the dedication were powerfully performed by Avatar actor, Stephen Lang. If you weren’t able to be there in person (and even if you were), now is the time to watch it in its entirety on C-SPAN.

Even though today begins summer, both the Lincoln Group and I have many upcoming events. Check out the Events tab on the Lincolnian.org for events and check out the News tab for all sorts of other interesting Lincoln (and Juneteenth) related tidbits. Check out my Media tab above for all of my upcoming programs related both to LGDC and to the release of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius.

Release date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Upcoming Programs for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius

By David J. Kent June 14, 2022 May 11, 2023 Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is arriving to bookstores soon, and with it will be a raft of upcoming programs. I hope you’ll join me at one or more of them.

I wrote recently about my busy week surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Centennial events. May 22nd was the main event on the Memorial steps, but there were many other events I helped organize that were related to the 100th anniversary. Last week I traveled to New England to view some Lincoln statues and my family. Tonight (aka, June 14th, which is also Flag Day), I preside over the Lincoln Group of DC’s first in-person dinner meeting after a pandemic-induced two-year hiatus. This Saturday is our monthly study forum meeting; next Saturday we’ll have a Board meeting to induct two new members and get started on a slew of post-Memorial activities. Then (fingers crossed) I’ll make my first flight and first real vacation in three years. So, while life certainly remains busy, it will get even busier as we get closer to the Lincoln: The Fire of Genius book launch.

I’m still setting up events, but here’s a quick list of what I have scheduled so far:

September 1, 2022: Release Day Interview by Daniel Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop on A House Divided broadcast! [Watch for details on the ALBS site]

September 13, 2022: The Fire of Genius Book Launch Party with the Lincoln Group of DC, Maggiano’s Restaurant, Washington, DC [Details coming soon]

September 16, 2022: The Fire of Genius lecture at the Cosmos Club, Washington, DC [Details coming soon]

September 17, 2022: Dedication event at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC [Details coming soon]

November 17, 2022: Book signing and discussion at the Lincoln Forum, Gettysburg, PA [See the schedule]

November 17, 2022: Presentation on the Lincoln Memorial Centennial with Harold Holzer, Lincoln Forum, Gettysburg, PA [See the schedule]

I’m also working on scheduling a talk at the Arts Club of Washington, probably in October, as well as some Civil War Round Table talks. I’ll also be presenting two of the four sessions of a Lincoln – The Savior of the Nation class for Encore Learning, in a follow up to last year’s successful event.

Check out my Media page for more events as they are added (plus some recaps of past events).

Release date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Editor of Smithsonian’s Joseph Henry Papers Praises Lincoln: The Fire of Genius

By David J. Kent June 2, 2022 June 2, 2022 Abraham Lincoln

One chapter of my new book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, is called Institutionalizing Science. Much of the focus is on the Smithsonian Institution’s first Secretary, Joseph Henry, and his relationship with Abraham Lincoln. I am very happy that Marc Rothenberg, the former Editor of The Papers of Joseph Henry, as well as past Historian at the National Academy of Sciences, has provided the following praise for the book:

This is the first in-depth study of Abraham Lincoln’s interest in technology and science and how that interest impacted his life and his Presidency. This is not simply a biography. Drawing on his extensive research in both primary and secondary sources, Kent adds new nuance and context to our understanding of the place of technology and science in American culture in the antebellum period and during the Civil War. He presents Lincoln as a man of his times, aware of, and sensitive to, the technological innovations and scientific discoveries which were helping to shape modern America. Indeed, as Kent demonstrates, Lincoln was a catalyst for some of that transformation wrought by science and technology.

Rothenberg was Editor of the Joseph Henry Project for over 20 years and was on the Smithsonian staff for thirty. The project conducted a worldwide search for documents to supplement those already held by the Smithsonian, eventually obtaining documents from over 300 repositories in 17 nations. Overall, there were nearly 136,000 documents, all of which were computer indexed for searchability. Eleven printed volumes were issued. They became a valuable resource for my research of this book. Rothenberg clearly is an expert on Joseph Henry. After getting a bachelor’s degree in astronomy from Villanova, he received his PhD in History of Science from Bryn Mawr.

Once the Joseph Henry Project was complete, Rothenberg moved on to be historian at the National Academy of Sciences, another institution signed into existence by Abraham Lincoln, and which plays an important role in my Institutionalize Science chapter. I first met Rothenberg at a private club in Washington, DC, where he graciously treated me to lunch and gave me the benefit of his experience for over three hours. He read an early version of this chapter and provided valuable feedback, so it was a given that I would ask him to read the galley of the full book, after which he provided the above praise. A shorter version of his remarks will appear as a blurb on the back cover of the book when it is released on September 1st.

I’ve been honored to have received advanced praise not only from Rothenberg but from prominent Lincoln experts Harold Holzer and Michael Burlingame. Lincoln biographer and journalist Sidney Blumenthal wrote a wonderful foreword to the book. Click on the links to see what they said. And that isn’t all. Several other well-known Lincoln experts provided blurbs. I’ll talk about those in future posts.

Release date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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My Busy Week at the Lincoln Memorial Centennial

By David J. Kent May 25, 2022 May 25, 2022 Abraham Lincoln

David J Kent Lincoln Memorial centennial The Lincoln Memorial reaches its centennial this month and this past week was the culmination of a year’s worth of work to celebrate the iconic structure’s 100th birthday. Around this time last year, the Lincoln Group of DC, of which I am the current president, decided that we must have a magnificent event on the Memorial steps. We had done something similar in 2015 for the sesquicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural speech so we followed the basic format. There were differences of course. We couldn’t really have a Lincoln reenactor for a memorial to his life and death, especially since it wasn’t dedicated until 57 years after his assassination. We also couldn’t just recapture the Civil War theme, nor did we want to exactly recapture the segregationist Jim Crow-era time of 1922. Plus, we would be working with the National Park Service, which would prefer not to be overly controversial. Still, there were issues from that 1922 dedication we wanted to address and there has been 100 years of history we wanted to show.

You can read background on the dedication ceremony on the Lincoln Group of DC website here, and here, and here. Click on the events tab on that website for more information about the speakers and the follow ups. In short, Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft gave a speech and officially handed over the Memorial to then-current President Warren G. Harding. Lincoln’s son Robert was also there but did not speak. The only other speaker was Dr. Robert R. Moton, director of the Tuskegee Institute, a predominantly Black university in Alabama. Dr. Moton was not allowed to sit with the other dignitaries. He was forced to walk to the speaker stand, give his speech – which was censored to remove suggestions that Jim Crow laws were counter to the nation’s unfinished business – and then returned to the segregated section of the audience.

We also understood that much has changed over the 100-year history of the Memorial. While the original focus was on unity – the reconciliation between (whites in) the North and South – the meaning has grown and broadened into a symbol of civil rights and hope for all Americans. Famed contralto singer Marian Anderson sang on its steps in 1939 after having been refused a concert at the “whites only” Constitution Hall. Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps in 1963, the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Most modern presidents incorporate the Memorial in their inauguration programs, including that of Barack Obama, our nation’s first African American president. We wanted to capture this evolution as well as the design and art of the building and its iconic seated Lincoln statue. To cover the art and architecture we brought in Lincoln and Daniel Chester French expert Harold Holzer. Edna Greene Medford traced the evolution in meaning over the last century. Frank Smith discussed the U.S. Colored Troops role in the fight for freedom. Our keynote speaker was Charlotte Morris, the current president of Tuskegee University, the institution run by Robert Moton 100 years ago when he spoke at the dedication. Morris contrasted that time, and unlike Moton’s censored speech, was forthright in both the greatness of Lincoln and the dangers to his vision expressed by today’s society. She received a standing ovation. We had representatives from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. to cover their involvement in the memory of Lincoln. The first Native American director of the National Park Service, Chuck Sams, offered some history of the Memorial. Sarah Johnson of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church (“Lincoln’s Church”) gave a Lincoln-inspired invocation. We also had music. The national anthem and two songs from Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert were sung by the amazing Felicia Curry while the United States Marine Band “The President’s Own” Brass Quintet provided pre-, inter-, and postludes. The words of poet Edwin Markham and Lincoln’s own words etched in the walls of the Memorial were powerfully performed by stage and screen actor Stephen Lang. We were also able to bring in four descendants of Robert Moton to be present at the event.

The program was broadcast on C-SPAN, CBS, and ABC. Not only was I the main organizer of the event, I was also the Master of Ceremonies.

That was Sunday morning on May 22nd. But that was only one of the series of events the Lincoln Group organized to celebrate the centennial of the Lincoln Memorial.

On Tuesday (5/10), we sponsored and I moderated a virtual presentation by the authors of a book on the Lincoln Memorial, a sort of prelude to the festivities.

On Thursday (5/19), I attended a special Library of Congress one-night-only exhibit of Lincoln’s reading copy of the Gettysburg Address and many other documents related to the Memorial.

Also, on Thursday (5/19), I attended a program at the Arts Club of Washington that the Lincoln Group supported featuring Harold Holzer.

On Saturday morning (5/21), I joined the Lincoln in Washington walking tour led by the Lincoln Group’s immediate past president John O’Brien.

Saturday afternoon (5/21), I attended a special showing of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” at the AFI Silver Theatre, which the Lincoln Group co-sponsored and Ed Epstein of our group introduced.

Sunday morning (5/22), the program described above, which I emceed.

Sunday afternoon (5/22), we hosted the speakers and members of the Board for a luncheon at Clyde’s in downtown Washington, DC

Monday evening (5/23), I spoke a few words to open a special dramatic reading of a new play called “Freedom’s Temple” by Bryce Stenzel. The Lincoln Group co-sponsored this event with the DC Civil War Roundtable. The event was produced by the Lincoln Group’s Debbie Jackson.

Tuesday (5/24), I attended virtually a program developed by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society and which the Lincoln Group supported.

In between, there were plenty of emails flying back and forth on other issues.

So, if you’ve noticed I hadn’t written much in the last week, that was why. Things won’t necessarily be getting less busy in the weeks to come, although the emphasis will shift. Most immediately is paying the bills for all of the above. One of the flying emails was to add an event in September that I’ll write more about later. We also have an in-person dinner event scheduled for June 14th that will require some significant organization. There’s a Lincoln Group board meeting scheduled for June 25th that I will chair. I have two travel trips coming up soon. Two other Lincoln Group members and I will be repeating a four-session course (two of which are mine) in October for Encore Learning. The Lincoln Forum is in November, which should have events both for me personally and the Lincoln Group. I’m hoping for another big trip in December.

And, of course, my new book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, will be released on September 1st. I have a book launch and several presentations scheduled for September (with likely several more to come), and at some point soon I need to prepare them for delivery.

I’ll have more photos from the Lincoln Memorial Centennial up on this website and on Facebook soon, as well as on the Lincoln Group of DC website: Lincolnian.org. The photo of me at the Lincoln Memorial above is courtesy of Bruce Guthrie.

Fire of Genius The book is available for pre-order on the Rowman & Littlefield website (Lyons Press is a trade imprint of Rowman). You can also pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). Release date is scheduled for September 1, 2022.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Michael Burlingame Offers Advanced Praise for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius

By David J. Kent May 16, 2022 May 16, 2022 Abraham Lincoln

Michael Burlingame Part of the process of putting together a book is asking prominent experts to read an advance copy and provide back cover “blurbs.” A few weeks ago, I reported that Harold Holzer, one of the most highly respected and prolific writers on Abraham Lincoln, had offered praise for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius. Today I can report that yet another icon of Lincoln scholarship, Michael Burlingame, has also offered his applause for the book. He writes:

The man known as the Great Emancipator and Savior of the Union was also, as David Kent’s illuminating study shows, a science geek, amateur astronomy buff, patent holder, science lecturer, and Modernizer in Chief. Brimful of information about Abraham Lincoln’s interest in (and enthusiasm for) science, mathematics, and technology, this book offers fresh insights into his law practice as well as his science-friendly presidency. Kent’s book ably supplements such important classic works as Robert V. Bruce’s Lincoln and the Tools of War and Allen Guelzo’s Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas.

Burlingame won the 2010 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize for his book, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Johns Hopkins University Press). This two-volume treatise published in 2008 (affectionately referred to as “The Green Monster” for the green covers on the hardcover boxed edition, as well as an homage to the famed left field wall at Fenway Park) quickly became the Bible of Abraham Lincoln studies. He is also the author or editor of at least a dozen of the most-reference books in Lincoln scholarship. His most recent book, The Black Man’s President: Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Equality (Pegasus Books) won the Abraham Lincoln Institute’s prestigious book award in 2022.

In addition to his books, Burlingame is the current president of the Abraham Lincoln Association and a board member of the Abraham Lincoln Institute. He was a professor of history for over three decades at Connecticut College before becoming the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2009. He was inducted as a Bicentennial Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state’s highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois.

Needless to say, I am delighted to have such a prominent Lincoln scholar compliment my book. Indeed, I had spoken to Burlingame early in the development process and he encouraged me to write it, noting that my combined scientific background and Lincoln studies uniquely positioned me to write this book.

That isn’t the end of the endorsements. I have also received several other items of praise for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius from other prominent Lincoln scholars, which I’ll continue to highlight over the next few weeks. I was fortunate to have journalist Sidney Blumenthal – himself the author of three award-winning volumes on the political life of Abraham Lincoln – write the foreword for the book. Read more about that here.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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