Jon Meacham Rewrites Abraham Lincoln's Story

A quick Google search will tell you there are over 15,000 books about Abraham Lincoln. Do we need another? Well yes, considering that none of them so far has been written by Jon Meacham who is one of America’s best biographers. “And There Was Light” has just been released. It is a most readable 420 page biography of our 16th President and it is timely. America is probably more divided now that at any time since Lincoln’s. Jon writes, “A President who led a divided country in which an implacable minority gave no quarter…has much to teach us in a twenty-first century moment of polarization.” Jon is a great conversationalist. At one point he says, "Some think I’m the love child of Mr. Rogers and Doris Kearns Goodwin.” How is that for a tease?

Books mentioned in this podcast:

• And There was Light by Jon Meacham
• The Soul of America by Jon Meacham
• American Lion by Jon Meacham
• Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham
• Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham
• His Truth is Marching On by Jon Meacham
• American Gospel by Jon Meacham
• The Hope of Glory by Jon Meacham
• Destiny and Power by Jon Meacham
• All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
• The Wise Men by Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas
• Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
• The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope
• The Warden by Anthony Trollope
• Emma by Jane Austen
• The Chain by Adrian McKintey
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
• The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices