GettysBlog

What Are You Reading?

Since finishing Lincoln at Gettysburg, I have been reading the Geraldine Brooks novel, March, which the Tompkins Country Public Library has selected for their community read this year.  It was an imaginative and inventive story that blended fact and fiction. Real people like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau make cameo appearances and interact with fictional characters. A good read.

What are you reading now?  I have heard from my colleagues that many of you did not like reading Lincoln at Gettysburg, and I have even heard some complain that students just don't read anymore. Can this be true? In our digital age of instance information, do books still matter?

At my Reading Project small group discussion two weeks ago I asked my students what books they would like to see selected for future Reading Projects. Their suggestions included such classics as Brave New World, Catch 22, A Tale of Two Cities, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and 1984. (How many of these have you read?)

More recent books recommended were The Things They Carried and the current bestseller Three Cups of Tea. Three of the students suggested that we read The Kite Runner and another requested that we read the graphic novel, Persepolis. Hmm. Reading a graphic novel for the Project could be quite interesting.

Many of these students were biology majors and they had two non-fiction book recommendations as well: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA and The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World. Seems to me that these students still read.

There are just so many good books out there. So let me ask all of you the same question:

What books would you recommend we read for next year's Reading Project?

Persuasive Power of Words

Anne Kenney, Cornell University's Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, sends library staff weekly messages about libraries, books, digital information, reading, and other topical issues. Like so many of us on campus, she read Lincoln at Gettysburg and joined a small group discussion on Monday. I wanted to share her message about our book with all of you:

"Last week during my annual cottage-at-the-lake vacation I thought a lot about words. Finishing up Lincoln at Gettysburg, the new student reading book by Garry Wills, and watching episodes of AMC's runaway show, Mad Men, provided grist for my thoughts. There is more similarity between these two than just my preoccupation of last week. Each focuses on the persuasive power of words. The former takes 317 pages to describe the impact of 272 words that constitute the Gettysburg Address; the latter is a series of hour-long episodes devoted to the advertising world of the late 1950s/early 1960s. Both trade in selling ideas. The subtitle to Wills' book is "The Words that Remade America" and his contention is that Lincoln wasn't in Gettysburg to commemorate a cemetery but to achieve a "revolution in thought." Similarly successful advertisers don't sell products but concepts, as exemplified in the Mad Men episode in which Don Draper, the Creative Director for Sterling Cooper Ad Agency, snags the Kodak account by describing its new carousel slide projector as a memory holder. Fourth, Lincoln's Address and advertisements alike achieve an economy of words. Lincoln broke with tradition by delivering a speech that lasted a little over 2 minutes; advertising depends on pithy slogans and 30 second pitches. Both invade our subconscious.  Many of us had to memorize the Gettysburg Address at some point in our education, and while you may not recall the full text, it's hard to forget the "Fourscore and seven years ago" bit. And advertising is meant to stick with you, as anyone who has had a jingle roll around in their head all day knows. Finally, both the Gettysburg Address and ads pack their greatest punch when they are heard, which is why the former figures prominently in solemn occasions and ad agencies spend a fortune on radio and television. Lincoln himself had a habit of reading everything aloud, including the newspaper. Consider, too, the 20th century equivalent to the Gettysburg Address: Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech, delivered to over 200,000 people 100 years after Lincoln's from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.  Its impact had as much to do with his delivery as it did with his words.

Don Draper was wrong. Kodak slide projectors aren't the real memory holders. Well-chosen, and well-spoken, words are.

Enjoy the week and the return of students to campus.
Anne"

We hope to see all of you in our libraries as the semester begins.  Good luck in your classes. Keep reading!

Reading a Scholarly Book

You may have noticed by now that Lincoln at Gettysburg can be a challenging read at times. Challenging in that it is not easy to read, and challenging because it asks you, its readers, to think deeply and critically about what you are reading.

Garry Wills offers us many perspectives of Lincoln's speech with his insights and interpretations of the historical data that he has read and analyzed. He provides us with 60 pages of Notes so that we can track and trace the sources of his scholarship. But I am sure this can be overwhelming or a bit daunting to those of you not used to reading scholarly books.

Let me offer a few suggestions on ways to read this book:

Use the tools provided.  Look at the Table of Contents. Our chapter titles organize and arrange the author's arguments for us. Be sure to focus on the final pages and paragraphs of each chapter, as Wills often summarizes his main points there while adding a few rhetorical flourishes of his own.

You can also use the Indexes at the back of the book to identify and locate passages on key themes, ideas, and historical people.

Read the Appendices.  Especially Appendix II.  It gives you an idea of just how hard it is to read History--figuring out what happened and where it happened can be difficult to determine. Historical events can be ambiguous. Historians can make mistakes.

Question what you read. Just because our author won a Pulitzer Prize for this book doesn't mean you have to agree with or accept all of his conclusions. Did the Gettysburg Address really remake America? And what do you make of his assertion on p. 38? Referring to the crowd listening to Lincoln give this speech, Wills writes: "Everyone in that vast throng of thousands was having his or her intellectual pocket picked." Do you think Lincoln was a "thief?"

You may want to read reviews of this book or other essays by Garry Wills as a way of reviewing other readers' opinions and thoughts and see how they compare with your own reactions.

And you can always send us your comments and questions here.

What is a good book?

Each of us will answer differently, but for me a good book is one that leads me to another book. Or better yet, other books: on the same topics, by the same author, or even something completely different.

Our reading of Lincoln at Gettysburg has left me curious to learn more about Lincoln, his speeches, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Civil War, etc. And so began my serendipitous summer reading saga.

As I was reading our book earlier this year, I began to search for some book reviews about it, and then looked up some Lincoln articles by Garry Wills. These led me to the texts of other Lincoln speeches, especially his Cooper Union speech and his Second Inaugural. (Treat yourself to more of Lincoln's writing. I think you will find yourself in awe of our most literate president.)

Then I picked up the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book about the Battle of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels. (Some fiction for Wendy!) You will not find a more compelling historical novel. But I also wanted to know more about the details of the battle, so I read James McPherson's Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg,which left me wanting to return to Gettysburg and follow his tour word-by-word and step-by-step.

Presently I am reading Gabor Boritt's The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows. If by chance you want to learn even more about the Gettysburg Address--perhaps everything there is to learn about it--then this elaborately detailed study of the events surrounding Lincoln's speech is the book for you. For instance, in our book we are told that Lincoln wisely traveled by train to Gettysburg a day earlier than originally planned. Boritt puts us on that train and gives us details about this trip:  a description of the special, elegant train cars supplied by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, a listing of the important politicians and journalists on board, and the politics of this trip. Was this speech the first campaign event in Lincoln's run for re-election? I found it interesting to note that Edward Everett's daughter, Charlotte Wise, was likely the only woman on this train and that the President's valet, William H. Johnson, may have been the only African American traveling in this entourage.

And then there is the Lincoln poetry. Does anyone read poetry anymore? I'm not sure I will make it all the way through Stephen Vincent Benet's epic poem of the Civil War, John Brown's Body (another Pulitzer Prize winning work), but I will certainly be rereading Walt Whitman's homage to Lincoln: "Oh Captain, My Captain."

Will there be time to indulge in Doris Kearns Goodwin's mammoth group biography of Lincoln and his Cabinet members, A Team of Rivals?

An Abundance of Writing on all Things Lincoln

The Cornell Library is comprised of twenty libraries, most located in Ithaca but others spanning from Geneva, New York City and across the ocean in Qatar.  In Olin Library alone, we have amassed a substantial collection of writings on Lincoln and the Battle of Gettysburg.  Books on Lincoln explore every nuance of Lincoln -- the person, the politician, the husband, the father.  If you (like me) find your curiosity peaked during your reading of Lincoln at Getttysburg, check out some of the excellent books written about Abraham Lincoln.  Every Thursday on the Gettysblog, we will highlight on one of our favorite books on Lincoln.

Recently, the New York Times reviewed The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage written by Daniel Mark Epstein.  what amused me about the review was not the book itself (which appears to be insightful and engaging) but rather the introduction to the topic of writings on Lincoln.  According the NYT reviewer, Janet Maslin, "turf issues are critical for any writer with the temerity to take on the Lincoln story. There are so many Lincoln books that there is even a book wholly devoted to listing the Top 100 books on the subject."

Perusing the stacks in Olin Library in the E457 call number, two books immediately drew my attention, Dear Mr. Lincoln: Letters to the President and The Lincoln Mailbag: America Writes to the President, 1861-1865, both compiled and edited by Harold Holzer.  Both books are a compilation of letters received by Abraham Lincoln and his staff during his presidency and a fascinating look at the issues and concerns of the times.  The book contains official correspondence including requests for presentations and engagements, however, the most compelling are letters sent from everyday folk.  I am including an excerpt from one of my favorites from Dear Mr. Lincoln below:

A "Widder Wumman" wants "Wurk"
Frederick, June 17, 1864
tu Abraham linkun President of the U. States at Washington -- Deer Sur: I take mi pen in hand to aske yu about the munney cumming to me frum my husband Daniel Spielman who was a solger in the 2d Mariland Ridgement in company C who was kill in a fite with the rebs last fal near Boonsborrow M.D.  I haint got no pay as was cummin toe him and none of his bounty munney and now Mr. President I am a pore widder wumman and have no munney and have borrered all what I lived on last winter and this summer toe -- Now Mr. President I can soe and cook and wash and du enny kind of wurk but cant get none -- see if you cant get me a place in one of your hospittles and I will goe rite to wurk -- but I dont want to leve mi little gurl so I want to git a plaice what I can take her toe -- I no yu du what is rite and yu will se tu me a pore widder wumman whose husband fote in your army your younion army Mr. President -- So Mr. President I sign myself your servant to command.
Catherin Spielman
(page 107)

Lincoln Event at Cornell Tonight

As a prelude to our Fall discussions and other events related to this year's Reading Project, a noted Lincoln scholar will be speaking at Cornell this evening. For those of you reading these postings from the Ithaca area, please join us at this talk.  Here is the press release for this event:

A leading authority on Lincoln and co-chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Harold Holzer is an award-winning author, former journalist and press secretary, and frequent television guest. His latest book, Lincoln: President-Elect (Simon & Schuster, fall 2008), examines the four months between Lincoln's election and inauguration when he made the most important decision of his coming presidency: that there would be no compromise on slavery. Holzer's appearance coincides with the beginning of Cornell's 2008 Reading Project, which will focus on Lincoln.

Location:  Alice Statler Auditorium, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Free and open to the public.

Reading Lincoln at Gettysburg together

Reading a book is a solitary process, an exchange of information between an author and an individual reader. Reading a book for Cornell's New Student Reading Project is a group effort, a communal activity, a shared experience, and a collaboration. Join us here as we read Lincoln at Gettysburg together this summer.

Beginning on Monday, June 30th, we and our colleagues from across campus and beyond, will be posting our thoughts and reactions to the book and related topics here, Monday through Friday, through July and August and into September.

We look forward to hearing from our readers--new Cornell students, all Cornell students, faculty, staff, alumni, small group discussion facilitators, and others participating in this year’s Reading Project. Send us your thoughts and ask us your questions.

Your comments to this blog are moderated and will be posted by us if they are on-topic and not abusive. They may also be edited for length and clarity.

To our New Students: Your copy of the Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg should be arriving in the mail very soon.

Enjoy your summer reading.

Lance and Wendy

Your comments to this blog are moderated and will be posted by us if they are on-topic and not abusive. They may also be edited for length and clarity.

To our New Students: Your copy of the Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg should be arriving in the mail very soon.

Enjoy your summer reading.

Lance and Wendy