Richard Striner

"Presents a comprehensive account of economic depressions in America from colonial times to the "Great Recession" that began in 2008." --Jacket.

Lincoln is the single most compelling figure in our history, but also one of the most enigmatic. Was he the Great Emancipator, a man of deep convictions who ended slavery in the United States, or simply a reluctant politician compelled by the force of events to free the slaves? In Father Abraham , Richard Striner offers a fresh portrait of Lincoln, one that helps us make sense of his many contradictions. Striner shows first that, if you examine the speeches that Lincoln made in the 1850s, you will have no doubt of his passion to end slavery. These speeches illuminate the anger, vehemence, and sheer brilliance of candidate Lincoln, who worked up crowds with charismatic fervor as he gathered a national following. But if he felt so passionately about abolition, why did he wait so long to release the Emancipation Proclamation? As Striner points out, politics is the art of the possible, and Lincoln was a consummate politician, a shrewd manipulator who cloaked his visionary ethics in the more pragmatic garb of the coalition-builder. He was at bottom a Machiavellian prince for a democratic age. When secession began, Lincoln used the battle cry of saving the Union to build a power base, one that would eventually break the slave-holding states forever. Striner argues that Lincoln was a rare man indeed: a fervent idealist and a crafty politician with a remarkable gift for strategy. It was the harmonious blend of these two qualities, Striner concludes, that made Lincoln's role in ending slavery so fundamental. Father Abraham challenges recent portraits of Lincoln as an essentially passive politician and reluctant abolitionist.

Woodrow Wilson is often considered one of the greatest presidents in American history because, in the first two years of his presidency, he succeeded on many fronts. However, acclaimed author and historian Richard Striner now makes the case that a presidency that is too often idealized was full of missteps and failures that profoundly affected America s politics and people long after it ended. While other negative assessments of Wilson's leadership have been one-sided, Striner's critique though undoubtedly scathing is judicious, nuanced, and fair. With detailed description and accessible prose, Striner sheds light on how as soon as America entered World War I flaws of Wilson s were exposed as the pressure on his administration mounted. This book is a story of presidential failure, a chronicle of Woodrow Wilson s miscalculations in war, and a harrowing account of the process through which an intelligent American leader fell to pieces under a burden he could not bear. -- Provided by publisher.

"In Lincoln's Way, historian Richard Striner tells the story of America's rise to global power and the presidential leaders who envisioned it and made it happen. From Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt within the Republican Party, the legacy was passed along to Franklin Delano Roosevelt--the Democratic Roosevelt--who bequeathed it to Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy."--Book jacket.