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Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America
“Brilliant . . . Ferguson’s guided tour of the often amusing, sometimes bizarre ways we remember Lincoln today . . . is heartening and even inspiring.” —Bill Kristol, Time Abraham Lincoln was our greatest president and perhaps the most influential American who ever lived. But what is his place in our country today? In Land of Lincoln, Andrew Ferguson packs his bags and embarks on a journey to the heart of contemporary Lincoln Nation, where he encounters a world as funny as it is poignant, and a population as devoted as it is colorful. In small-town Indiana, Ferguson drops in on the national conference of Lincoln presenters, 175 grown men who make their living (sort of) by impersonating their hero. He meets the premier collectors of Lincoln memorabilia, prized items of which include Lincoln’s chamber pot, locks of his hair, and pages from a boyhood schoolbook. He takes his wife and children on a trip across the long-defunct Lincoln Heritage Trail, a driving tour of landmarks from Lincoln’s life. This book is an entertaining, unexpected, and big-hearted celebration of Lincoln’s enduring influence on our country—and the people who help keep his spirit alive. “A hilarious, offbeat tour of Lincoln shrines, statues, cabins and museums . . . Mr. Ferguson maps it expertly, with an understated Midwestern sense of humor that Lincoln, master of the funny story, would have been the first to appreciate.” —William Grimes, The New York Times
310 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2007
70 people are currently reading
433 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Ferguson
14 books10 followersAndrew Ferguson is a senior editor at the Weekly Standard and has written and editor for many publications, including Washingtonian magazine, Time magazine, Fortune, TV Guide, Forbes FYI, National Review, Bloomberg News, Commentary, the New Yorker, New York magazine, the New Republic, the American Spectator, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and many other publications. In 1992, he was a White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
October 1, 2024
This book came out in 2007. I don’t remember all the revisionist Lincoln history being so long ago. With the statue toppling and paint throwing in the past few years, Ferguson would have at least another chapter to add to this book.
Ferguson begins with his own childhood in Illinois and describes his own Lincolnophile reading and touring Lincoln sites as a child with his family. In the early 1960s Lincoln was still an unassailable heroic figure except perhaps in the South.
Ferguson writing in 2007 says nearly 14,000 books had been written about Lincoln, more than any other U.S. figure. Seventeen years later the figure is more like 16,000, testifying to the enduring popularity of Lincoln as a subject if not to his once unassailable reputation. Ferguson tries to approach Lincoln from many angles such as his immediate deification after his assassination, biographies written in the 19th century, different ideas of how to present his life in museums, statues, Lincoln presenters (not imitators), the once sancrosanct Lincoln Trail, and 21st century Lincoln detractors.
I don’t mean to imply this is dry history. Ferguson can be extremely funny. History is a funny thing. The history of Lincoln statues (and other public figures) is particularly interesting to me. It is no longer popular to have historical figures on plinths. I still find it odd to approach a life sized Lincoln standing on the pavement. He is now supposed to be seen as an ordinary folksy man with rumpled clothes. He can frequently be found sitting on park benches with room for you to sit with him. One unusual statue in my hometown does have him portrayed as 9’ high seated. He’s on a marble bench and again you can climb up next to him. With its size it leaves you swinging your legs like Edith Ann on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. No dignity.
Ferguson begins with his own childhood in Illinois and describes his own Lincolnophile reading and touring Lincoln sites as a child with his family. In the early 1960s Lincoln was still an unassailable heroic figure except perhaps in the South.
Ferguson writing in 2007 says nearly 14,000 books had been written about Lincoln, more than any other U.S. figure. Seventeen years later the figure is more like 16,000, testifying to the enduring popularity of Lincoln as a subject if not to his once unassailable reputation. Ferguson tries to approach Lincoln from many angles such as his immediate deification after his assassination, biographies written in the 19th century, different ideas of how to present his life in museums, statues, Lincoln presenters (not imitators), the once sancrosanct Lincoln Trail, and 21st century Lincoln detractors.
I don’t mean to imply this is dry history. Ferguson can be extremely funny. History is a funny thing. The history of Lincoln statues (and other public figures) is particularly interesting to me. It is no longer popular to have historical figures on plinths. I still find it odd to approach a life sized Lincoln standing on the pavement. He is now supposed to be seen as an ordinary folksy man with rumpled clothes. He can frequently be found sitting on park benches with room for you to sit with him. One unusual statue in my hometown does have him portrayed as 9’ high seated. He’s on a marble bench and again you can climb up next to him. With its size it leaves you swinging your legs like Edith Ann on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. No dignity.
May 24, 2023
(I just happened upon this old review and had to adjust down the star rating, because 3 in retrospect seems far too generous.)
I wanted to finish the year (and start the new year) with something a little lighter, while keeping with my ongoing Lincoln theme, and this definitely fit the bill. It's light, and engaging, and funny - for a while. But then it starts to become sarcastic, and cynical, and ultimately kind of depressing. In the end I wasn't really sure what Ferguson was trying to say here, or whether he himself didn't know what to say after journeying across America to find out what Abraham Lincoln means to us today.
The book starts out strong, with an opening line that is drolly self-aware: "More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than about any other American," Ferguson begins - but just when you want to roll your eyes at the cliché, he does it for you, by continuing with "at least half of those books begin by saying that more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than about any other American. This one, you'll notice, is one of them."
That sets the tone for the wry, conversational narrative that follows. The first chapter, which inspired Ferguson to turn a single event into a full-fledged book, is by far the strongest. He visited Richmond, Virginia back in 2003 as the city prepared to unveil a statue commemorating Lincoln’s visit after the city fell to Union forces. Confederate apologists, white supremacists and others whom Ferguson collectively dubs “Abephobes” were outraged and vowed to prevent the unveiling from happening.
So Ferguson tries to determine what makes the Abephobes tick. He visited with and spoke with individuals including Thomas DiLorenzo, the leader of the cottage industry of right-wing Lincoln-bashers. Ferguson concludes that the Abephobes seem to have a superficial understanding of Lincoln and what he stood for. Once they discovered that "Lincoln was never an abolitionist, and that he expressed skepticism of civil rights for blacks, and that he had in fact advocated the colonization of freedmen," they began to see something nefarious, and suspect that they were being lied to. Lincoln thus becomes a scapegoat and a personification of their existing prejudices, as they fret that "the country turned into something they don't like, and they think Lincoln's responsible."
From there, Ferguson considers how various groups over the years have used Lincoln to push their own political and personal agendas, as they insist that Lincoln would support their point of view. While once "Americans were taught to be like Lincoln,” Ferguson observes, “what we've really wanted is for Lincoln to be like us."
And then he sets out from Richmond to see how others view Lincoln today. But it’s here where Ferguson’s lofty premise begins to sink into silliness and collapse under the weight of its own snark. He visits the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and takes shots at its superficiality. He visits with Lincoln memorabilia collectors, who fancy themselves Lincoln experts but are portrayed as having more money and time on their hands, than they do any particular knowledge about or appreciation for Lincoln himself. He visits a corporate training session purporting to teach Lincolnesque management lessons, taught by and attended by those with little actual understanding about Lincoln. He goes on a tour of lesser-known Lincoln historical sites, which are represented as little more than cynical money-making enterprises. And by the time he visits a convention of Lincoln impersonators, his journey has long since turned a once-promising premise into a mere freak show filled with easy targets for his snide witticisms. He ends up insulting everyone from the National Park Service, to the entire state of Indiana, to anyone supportive of multiculturalism, to, incongruously, Florence Henderson.
I didn’t expect a scholarly historiography here. But it’s a curious omission that Ferguson doesn’t consider mass media or popular biographies as he attempts to explore contemporary perceptions of Lincoln. It’s hard to get at the heart of the matter when all he seems to want to do is explore the fringes and take aim at the easy targets. He does seem to have consulted with historians to check some facts, but he doesn’t ever ask them for insights in his narrative. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. documented a similar journey in his “Looking for Lincoln” documentary that appeared a couple of years after this book - he, too, visited the Lincoln impersonators and the dilettante Lincolnalia collectors and the Confederate sympathizers and the Disneyfied Lincoln Library and Museum, but he also spoke with historians for context, he didn’t snark on anyone along the way, and he had something larger to say in the end.
Ferguson, meanwhile, is content to describe a lot of soulless conventions in dreary chain hotels in depressing mid-sized Midwestern cities, visiting with people who are grifting off Lincoln without really understanding him or even caring to. At one point, he describes an interviewer speaking with one Lincolnalia collector as treating “his Lincoln obsession with the condescension that is a hallmark of the journalist's trade," and I wondered whether Ferguson was actually inadvertently describing himself.
There are good moments and amusing lines in the book, and I tried to enjoy it in the spirit in which it was intended. But I found that the tone simply wears thin after a while. Ferguson does try to end on an inspirational note with a description of the majesty of the Lincoln Memorial and a touching story about one man’s Lincoln-inspired journey, though this story - as well as many of the witty quotes and observations he attributes to others throughout the book - come across as too good to be true. Either way, the happy ending doesn’t really resonate and seems unearned after all the dispiriting sarcasm that precedes it. Ultimately, it’s a journey without a destination; a whirlwind tour that shows you everything but nothing; a kooky If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium approach to Lincoln. You might enjoy the ride if you don’t mind that you’re not headed anywhere in particular, but for me, I was ready to get off about halfway through and go explore on my own.
I wanted to finish the year (and start the new year) with something a little lighter, while keeping with my ongoing Lincoln theme, and this definitely fit the bill. It's light, and engaging, and funny - for a while. But then it starts to become sarcastic, and cynical, and ultimately kind of depressing. In the end I wasn't really sure what Ferguson was trying to say here, or whether he himself didn't know what to say after journeying across America to find out what Abraham Lincoln means to us today.
The book starts out strong, with an opening line that is drolly self-aware: "More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than about any other American," Ferguson begins - but just when you want to roll your eyes at the cliché, he does it for you, by continuing with "at least half of those books begin by saying that more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than about any other American. This one, you'll notice, is one of them."
That sets the tone for the wry, conversational narrative that follows. The first chapter, which inspired Ferguson to turn a single event into a full-fledged book, is by far the strongest. He visited Richmond, Virginia back in 2003 as the city prepared to unveil a statue commemorating Lincoln’s visit after the city fell to Union forces. Confederate apologists, white supremacists and others whom Ferguson collectively dubs “Abephobes” were outraged and vowed to prevent the unveiling from happening.
So Ferguson tries to determine what makes the Abephobes tick. He visited with and spoke with individuals including Thomas DiLorenzo, the leader of the cottage industry of right-wing Lincoln-bashers. Ferguson concludes that the Abephobes seem to have a superficial understanding of Lincoln and what he stood for. Once they discovered that "Lincoln was never an abolitionist, and that he expressed skepticism of civil rights for blacks, and that he had in fact advocated the colonization of freedmen," they began to see something nefarious, and suspect that they were being lied to. Lincoln thus becomes a scapegoat and a personification of their existing prejudices, as they fret that "the country turned into something they don't like, and they think Lincoln's responsible."
From there, Ferguson considers how various groups over the years have used Lincoln to push their own political and personal agendas, as they insist that Lincoln would support their point of view. While once "Americans were taught to be like Lincoln,” Ferguson observes, “what we've really wanted is for Lincoln to be like us."
And then he sets out from Richmond to see how others view Lincoln today. But it’s here where Ferguson’s lofty premise begins to sink into silliness and collapse under the weight of its own snark. He visits the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and takes shots at its superficiality. He visits with Lincoln memorabilia collectors, who fancy themselves Lincoln experts but are portrayed as having more money and time on their hands, than they do any particular knowledge about or appreciation for Lincoln himself. He visits a corporate training session purporting to teach Lincolnesque management lessons, taught by and attended by those with little actual understanding about Lincoln. He goes on a tour of lesser-known Lincoln historical sites, which are represented as little more than cynical money-making enterprises. And by the time he visits a convention of Lincoln impersonators, his journey has long since turned a once-promising premise into a mere freak show filled with easy targets for his snide witticisms. He ends up insulting everyone from the National Park Service, to the entire state of Indiana, to anyone supportive of multiculturalism, to, incongruously, Florence Henderson.
I didn’t expect a scholarly historiography here. But it’s a curious omission that Ferguson doesn’t consider mass media or popular biographies as he attempts to explore contemporary perceptions of Lincoln. It’s hard to get at the heart of the matter when all he seems to want to do is explore the fringes and take aim at the easy targets. He does seem to have consulted with historians to check some facts, but he doesn’t ever ask them for insights in his narrative. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. documented a similar journey in his “Looking for Lincoln” documentary that appeared a couple of years after this book - he, too, visited the Lincoln impersonators and the dilettante Lincolnalia collectors and the Confederate sympathizers and the Disneyfied Lincoln Library and Museum, but he also spoke with historians for context, he didn’t snark on anyone along the way, and he had something larger to say in the end.
Ferguson, meanwhile, is content to describe a lot of soulless conventions in dreary chain hotels in depressing mid-sized Midwestern cities, visiting with people who are grifting off Lincoln without really understanding him or even caring to. At one point, he describes an interviewer speaking with one Lincolnalia collector as treating “his Lincoln obsession with the condescension that is a hallmark of the journalist's trade," and I wondered whether Ferguson was actually inadvertently describing himself.
There are good moments and amusing lines in the book, and I tried to enjoy it in the spirit in which it was intended. But I found that the tone simply wears thin after a while. Ferguson does try to end on an inspirational note with a description of the majesty of the Lincoln Memorial and a touching story about one man’s Lincoln-inspired journey, though this story - as well as many of the witty quotes and observations he attributes to others throughout the book - come across as too good to be true. Either way, the happy ending doesn’t really resonate and seems unearned after all the dispiriting sarcasm that precedes it. Ultimately, it’s a journey without a destination; a whirlwind tour that shows you everything but nothing; a kooky If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium approach to Lincoln. You might enjoy the ride if you don’t mind that you’re not headed anywhere in particular, but for me, I was ready to get off about halfway through and go explore on my own.
November 3, 2017
As someone who reads a great deal of books about Abraham Lincoln, it is pretty clear that I would likely fall into the category of being a buff, as this author would like to say [1]. Instead of writing a book about Lincoln though, the author is seeking someone more nebulous, and that is the contested place that Lincoln holds in American society and how he is viewed and marketed. I have to say that I greatly appreciated the author's approach, as he was highly critical of many of the tendencies of political correctness that are a part of the "new" social history. For the most part, though, this book tries to adopt a sort of neutrality where the author shows an interest in the wildly different viewpoints of people who are fond of Lincoln as well as those who are highly critical of them either because they blame Lincoln for the way things are in contemporary society that they don't like (this would be the case for DiLorenzo and his ilk) or for those who dislike Lincoln as an icon and want to cut him down to size.
In terms of its contents, this book looks at Lincoln in the public memory with a special interest to museums, collections, statues, and other aspects of historical preservation and presentation. The result is a trip through some very odd areas of the United States, beginning in all places in Richmond, Virginia, where the placement of a statue of Lincoln sparked a massive conflict with those who thought that the statue was a sign of yankee cultural imperialism. After that the author takes a look at Hearndon's value in trying to determine the inner Lincoln, a task that continues to interest many. A trip to Chicago follows with a look at the decline of interest in many museums over the past few decades due to the culture wars in academia. After this the author goes to Springfield to look at what state money can do for the creation of massively expensive infotainment. A chapter about Lincoln collectibles then follows before the author visits a conference of Lincoln impersonators as well as a business seminar in Gettysburg that uses Lincoln as a way of educating people on virtues that would otherwise be largely ignored by business audiences. The author then closes the book with a look at the largely defunct Lincoln trail in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, the fact that there is a whole lotta Lincoln in contemporary culture even with changing tastes, and that the iconic view of Lincoln in the Lincoln memorial is something worth defending.
Ultimately, the author remains as confused about Lincoln after his study as before. The general phenomenon one notices in Lincoln studies are noted by the author, including the way that many people see in Lincoln people after their own hearts and interests and ideological commitments. For many, Lincoln is famous for being famous, almost like Paris Hilton, while for others Lincoln is the placeholder for what is wicked and corrupt about contemporary leftist politics, and for others Lincoln is someone whose cultural cachet can serve the interests of those who want to write books promoting some aspect of his complex character. Is it inevitable that complicated people with many facets and complexities who are a bit shy about exposing the deepest parts of their feeling to others be seen as an empty vessel to fill with whatever presuppositions and ideologies that people want to promote? I would hate to be used in such a fashion when I was not able to defend myself with a fierce pen. Part of the defense of the icon is that while Abraham Lincoln was a complicated man, he was also a noble man, and deserves to be remembered as a human being who can also inspire us to better versions of ourselves than we might otherwise be.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2010...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2010...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
In terms of its contents, this book looks at Lincoln in the public memory with a special interest to museums, collections, statues, and other aspects of historical preservation and presentation. The result is a trip through some very odd areas of the United States, beginning in all places in Richmond, Virginia, where the placement of a statue of Lincoln sparked a massive conflict with those who thought that the statue was a sign of yankee cultural imperialism. After that the author takes a look at Hearndon's value in trying to determine the inner Lincoln, a task that continues to interest many. A trip to Chicago follows with a look at the decline of interest in many museums over the past few decades due to the culture wars in academia. After this the author goes to Springfield to look at what state money can do for the creation of massively expensive infotainment. A chapter about Lincoln collectibles then follows before the author visits a conference of Lincoln impersonators as well as a business seminar in Gettysburg that uses Lincoln as a way of educating people on virtues that would otherwise be largely ignored by business audiences. The author then closes the book with a look at the largely defunct Lincoln trail in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, the fact that there is a whole lotta Lincoln in contemporary culture even with changing tastes, and that the iconic view of Lincoln in the Lincoln memorial is something worth defending.
Ultimately, the author remains as confused about Lincoln after his study as before. The general phenomenon one notices in Lincoln studies are noted by the author, including the way that many people see in Lincoln people after their own hearts and interests and ideological commitments. For many, Lincoln is famous for being famous, almost like Paris Hilton, while for others Lincoln is the placeholder for what is wicked and corrupt about contemporary leftist politics, and for others Lincoln is someone whose cultural cachet can serve the interests of those who want to write books promoting some aspect of his complex character. Is it inevitable that complicated people with many facets and complexities who are a bit shy about exposing the deepest parts of their feeling to others be seen as an empty vessel to fill with whatever presuppositions and ideologies that people want to promote? I would hate to be used in such a fashion when I was not able to defend myself with a fierce pen. Part of the defense of the icon is that while Abraham Lincoln was a complicated man, he was also a noble man, and deserves to be remembered as a human being who can also inspire us to better versions of ourselves than we might otherwise be.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2010...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2010...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
December 1, 2015
Since today is Lincoln's birthday, I thought I'd mention this delightful book. Rather than a scholarly work or biography, the author looks for Lincoln in America today and tries to make sense of what Lincoln means to us as a society. Ferguson grew up in Illinois and Lincoln was a big interest of his. One of the best parts of the book is when he tries to recreate with his teenage kids the wonderful experience he had with his Dad exploring The Lincoln Trail. (The Lincoln Trail stretches from Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky to New Salem, in Illinois.) I wonder how they will remember this experience when they are adults.
This book is funny, informative and thought-provoking. I highly recommend listening to this book. The reader adds greatly to the enjoyment
This book is funny, informative and thought-provoking. I highly recommend listening to this book. The reader adds greatly to the enjoyment
February 25, 2017
I consider myself a Lincoln Buff that's still learning. I've lived in Illinois all my life and I've been down to Springfield several times in my lifetime. So when I was looking for a book that would solve my yearning for a book about Abraham Lincoln, I chose this one. Andrew Ferguson wrote a funny book about Lincoln in today's world and where he stands. But Lincoln means so many things to so many different people it's impossible to pin him down. Reading this book, I found out things that I didn't know, like that there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln and singer Perry Como in Gettysburg. Or that there was a Lincoln Heritage Trail.
Andrew Ferguson traveled all around the States viewing different ways the Lincoln name and legacy is being used today. He visited the woman who holds a lot of the Lincoln items, Louise Taper. Quite a few of her items are on loan to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and being there twice I can recall seeing her name there. He also visits the museum before it opened, a meeting of Lincoln presenters, Lincoln haters, and a business workshop that uses Lincoln as its model. He also takes his family to Springfield, Indiana, and Kentucky to visit places that Lincoln lived before he was President. My absolute favorite part of the book came in the Postscript. It's a story of a man who works in the Springfield Hilton and someone who came to visit there. I won't give away the story but I thought it was beautiful and a great way to finish the book.
Overall, I thought the book was great. I did feel, though, that Mr. Ferguson had a slight negative view wherever he visited. It came across as jaded, maybe. He seemed to have a problem with at least one thing at each sight that he visited. Not every Lincoln sight is going to please everyone. He seems to take offense on what the museum is. I personally think that the museum is fantastic. I can see that maybe it's not to everyone's taste but I think it's still serving a great purpose. And with the Lincoln home in Springfield, I've never seen what it was like before it was owned by the Park Service so I can't comment on which is better. But I still think that the book was pretty good and it shouldn't be a book that a Lincoln buff or anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln should pass up.
Andrew Ferguson traveled all around the States viewing different ways the Lincoln name and legacy is being used today. He visited the woman who holds a lot of the Lincoln items, Louise Taper. Quite a few of her items are on loan to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and being there twice I can recall seeing her name there. He also visits the museum before it opened, a meeting of Lincoln presenters, Lincoln haters, and a business workshop that uses Lincoln as its model. He also takes his family to Springfield, Indiana, and Kentucky to visit places that Lincoln lived before he was President. My absolute favorite part of the book came in the Postscript. It's a story of a man who works in the Springfield Hilton and someone who came to visit there. I won't give away the story but I thought it was beautiful and a great way to finish the book.
Overall, I thought the book was great. I did feel, though, that Mr. Ferguson had a slight negative view wherever he visited. It came across as jaded, maybe. He seemed to have a problem with at least one thing at each sight that he visited. Not every Lincoln sight is going to please everyone. He seems to take offense on what the museum is. I personally think that the museum is fantastic. I can see that maybe it's not to everyone's taste but I think it's still serving a great purpose. And with the Lincoln home in Springfield, I've never seen what it was like before it was owned by the Park Service so I can't comment on which is better. But I still think that the book was pretty good and it shouldn't be a book that a Lincoln buff or anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln should pass up.
May 28, 2009
So, since moving to the Land of Lincoln and getting engaged in front of his historical home in Springfield, I've kinda developed a curiousity (ie. obsession) about the "Great Emancipator." So, when I saw this book in our school's book fair, I thought I'd pick it up.
I liked this book, because instead of focusing on who Lincoln was, it focuses on the many different ways that Americans see Lincoln or portray him. As Ferguson (who, if the back cover photo is accurate, looks eeriely like the late Kurt Vonnegut) travels around the country, he encounters people who all have differing views - Lincoln the war criminal, Lincoln the idol, Lincoln the romantic, Lincoln the Christian, Lincoln the Jew, Lincoln the racist, Lincoln the rationalist, Lincoln the corporate manager, and so on.
The book reviews listed on the cover led me to believe the book would be funnier than it was. The funniest people in this book are Ferguson's kids, who were less than pleased about spending their summer vacation tracing the Lincoln trail. I could almost hear echos of what my future children will be saying when we envitably drag them across the country to historical or educational sites. Such as, "There's a cornfield! There's another cornfield! Oh, look over there, another cornfield!" or (in reference to the docent at the Lincoln historical home in Springfield saying that the banister was originally part of the house and that they were touching something that Lincoln once touched) "This must be ecstasy for you dad."
I liked this book, because instead of focusing on who Lincoln was, it focuses on the many different ways that Americans see Lincoln or portray him. As Ferguson (who, if the back cover photo is accurate, looks eeriely like the late Kurt Vonnegut) travels around the country, he encounters people who all have differing views - Lincoln the war criminal, Lincoln the idol, Lincoln the romantic, Lincoln the Christian, Lincoln the Jew, Lincoln the racist, Lincoln the rationalist, Lincoln the corporate manager, and so on.
The book reviews listed on the cover led me to believe the book would be funnier than it was. The funniest people in this book are Ferguson's kids, who were less than pleased about spending their summer vacation tracing the Lincoln trail. I could almost hear echos of what my future children will be saying when we envitably drag them across the country to historical or educational sites. Such as, "There's a cornfield! There's another cornfield! Oh, look over there, another cornfield!" or (in reference to the docent at the Lincoln historical home in Springfield saying that the banister was originally part of the house and that they were touching something that Lincoln once touched) "This must be ecstasy for you dad."
July 30, 2023
A delightful, often funny, excursion across the variegated modern world of Lincoln - buffs, museums, souvenirs, detractors, tourist meccas, re-enactors, promoters, collectors, monuments ... and others. It's fascinating, interesting, fun... and the driving question that motivates the author throughout this exploration (Who is Lincoln - can we know or find him?) is ultimately answered. Ours is a country unique in history - "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." We have not always personified that ideal, but every generation gets better at it. With every generation, we as a country better personify that fundamental founding concept. Lincoln kept the country whole. "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure." Because of Lincoln, that nation did endure and "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
November 3, 2020
As one who learned to love history via visits to New Salem and Springfield, IL, to see Lincoln habitats, I especially loved the part of this book that describes Ferguson's own visits as child to these and other sites. He also does a terrific job in his chapters on Lincoln "interpreters" and collectors. Lots of people really have the bug! Ferguson also wrestles with how various museums and sites present Lincoln -- is he a god? all too human? something in between? Ferguson's writing is engaging, and he raises knotty problems without being pedantic. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in Lincoln and/or American history in general.
May 2, 2024
Alright, I was a history major back in college (which is when I bought this book or someone bought it for me, I can't remember). But this was a struggle to get through. Quite frankly, I'm surprised I even finished it because I was just super bored reading this book, and history has never bored me like this. Granted, this seems more like a tale of the author's journey to finding out about Lincoln more than it actually was about Lincoln, and had it actually been more about Lincoln I probably would have enjoyed it more.
January 6, 2020
Rather a fun book.
Interesting background information on many Lincoln sites and controversies over those sites.
Lots of reminiscing in the final chapters of the book.
Throughout, the airport is trying to make sense of the Lincoln phenomena and his own feeling towards that, which of course is the whole stated point of the book.
He does that will.
Interesting background information on many Lincoln sites and controversies over those sites.
Lots of reminiscing in the final chapters of the book.
Throughout, the airport is trying to make sense of the Lincoln phenomena and his own feeling towards that, which of course is the whole stated point of the book.
He does that will.
July 23, 2016
Huh. I don't know if I have ever read a book that annoyed me so much, but then shocked me with a great chapter.
The book was a 2. But Chapter Seven was a 5.
This is presented as a funny, rollicking look at the way Lincoln has become everything to everybody. It's not a terrible book. It's written technically well. It's got a lot of interesting anecdotes and information.
But what comes across loud and clear is a deep, disturbing cynicism that reads like a disgusted reality TV producer dismissing everybody, including Lincoln, as, well, a bunch of losers.
Snark and condescending sarcasm seem to be the object of the book -- not funny, engaging -- mean and dismissive. Lincoln is just the vehicle for Ferguson's need to express that worldview. It got very old after a while.
But just as I was going to give up, Ferguson takes on a "Leadership by Lincoln" workshop and the snark and sarcasm worked beautifully.
The book was a 2. But Chapter Seven was a 5.
This is presented as a funny, rollicking look at the way Lincoln has become everything to everybody. It's not a terrible book. It's written technically well. It's got a lot of interesting anecdotes and information.
But what comes across loud and clear is a deep, disturbing cynicism that reads like a disgusted reality TV producer dismissing everybody, including Lincoln, as, well, a bunch of losers.
Snark and condescending sarcasm seem to be the object of the book -- not funny, engaging -- mean and dismissive. Lincoln is just the vehicle for Ferguson's need to express that worldview. It got very old after a while.
But just as I was going to give up, Ferguson takes on a "Leadership by Lincoln" workshop and the snark and sarcasm worked beautifully.
February 13, 2020
As a former U.S. history teacher I loved reading Ferguson's wry and insightful comments about the changing perspectives of presenting history, as educators and historians, and the way public perception of history has changed as well. I have led students on hands-on "we the people" museum field trips that bored both them and me silly. And I've stood with students on the battlefield at Gettysburg and watched them as they were overtaken with awe by "standing right here where it really happened". I've also been through many workshop experiences, and Ferguson gets those dead right too. I finished the book (which I'd picked up the day before on a whim having heard nothing about it) feeling well-entertained, well-served and just a little bit more patriotic then I had hours before.
August 12, 2013
I don't usually mind snarkiness, but this author goes over the top and at times obscures some good information about how we have celebrated and do celebrate Abraham Linclon in our country. He's a big deal and some reverence is advisable--not to say that the author doesn't work that in on occasion--but it's hard to tell if he really appreciates Lincoln or more appreciates his childhood memories of appreciating Lincoln.
June 12, 2025
This is a reread in preparation for a trip to Springfield, IL. Note to self...if you read it again, skip the first few chapters. They drag. But the rest of the book is good.
June 12, 2016
Great fun. Recommended on the GLoP podcast.
May 17, 2020
Journalist Andrew Ferguson looks at his childhood idol Abraham Lincoln not from a historical point of view. Rather Ferguson writes in his Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America about the consumer market of nostalgia eclipsed from the greatest President since George Washington. Abraham Lincoln "sells" whether it's packaged in corporate workshop seminars hosted in Gettysburg, PA, or underwritten by the oil industry to promote trips and tourism to places Lincoln lived. Ferguson recounts his obsession with Lincoln as a young boy when he collected assorted souvenirs from Lincoln shrines his father and grandfather visited. He got the Lincoln "bug." As an adult he takes another look at his hero, the American Icon, and explores the kinds of ways the mythic image of the 16th President continues to infiltrate the present-day culture. Ferguson sprinkles humor throughout his travels in collecting research and interviewing people. The annual meeting of the ALP (Abraham Lincoln Presenters) in Santa Claus, IN attracts "impersonators" nation-wide who discuss and exchange experiences from riding in parades to lecturing at civic events. Especially funny is the family trip he takes his teenaged daughter and son on reversing the life of Lincoln from his home in Springfield, IL to his log cabin birthplace near Hodginville, KY. Throughout his book, Ferguson adds significant information about the creation, for example, of the Presidential museum in Springfield, IL and the genesis of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Entertaining yet authoritative in an unusual direction of the history of Lincoln, Ferguson writes to a Lincoln audience already familiar with the beloved and respected President.
March 13, 2022
This is a fun memoir of a modern-day search for the real Abraham Lincoln. In childhood, Andrew Ferguson had been a Lincoln buff but had developed other interests in adulthood. The enigmatic and “shut-mouth” Lincoln provided pundits an open field for speculation. As a result, a plethora of interpretations have been tossed around that purport to explain his personality, beliefs, motivations, administration, family, and even sexual orientation. Glorifying tributes stand beside hate filled censures. Ferguson trekked across the country to get a fix on the man. He traversed the Lincoln Heritage Trail with his family, visited major and not-so-major memorials, interviewed Lincoln collectors, gawked at Lincoln impersonators, and talked to guides, academics, and park rangers. Lincoln remained elusive, but Ferguson’s wit and lively writing style kept the quest entertaining and educational … although the reader may learn more about modern-day Americans than they learn about our sixteenth president.
April 7, 2021
Andrew Ferguson, a self-admitted Lincoln buff, writes about what Lincoln means in America, particularly in the places where Lincoln lived and worked. Ferguson writes about his visits to Lincoln home, childhood sites and birthplace. He also visits a convention of Abe impersonators and discusses how Lincoln has been used, and abused, by commercial interests, politicians and self-help gurus. He takes his wife and children on a Lincoln "car-trip" that mirrored one his father took him on as a child.
Ferguson has a sharp eye for the ironic and ridiculous writing about the kitsch that one often finds in historical sites and their gift shops, but also has an eye for the significant and moving parts of what Lincoln has meant in the years after his death, and what he means to us today.
I enjoyed this book very much. I learned a great deal from it.
Ferguson has a sharp eye for the ironic and ridiculous writing about the kitsch that one often finds in historical sites and their gift shops, but also has an eye for the significant and moving parts of what Lincoln has meant in the years after his death, and what he means to us today.
I enjoyed this book very much. I learned a great deal from it.
November 8, 2018
I love Lincoln, and this was a fascinating perspective on not only the man, but how we view the man in America. Ferguson’s writing is accessible, witty, engaging, and engrossing. His book is a little about him and a little about Lincoln, but it’s largely about Lincoln in America – how we honor him, criticize him, and use him in our national story. Ferguson gives consideration to both Lincoln skeptics and worshippers, ultimately deciding that Lincoln the icon has a place in America as the preserver of the Union, as a symbol of our nation that stands for equality and democracy. Lincoln means different things to different people, and that’s ok. But for Ferguson, Lincoln the icon, the man who preserved the Union, is the one that endures.
June 7, 2022
This is both a smart and entertaining book, less a biography of Lincoln than a biography of the legacy of Lincoln (who knew that Ida Tarbell wrote a biography of Honest Abe?). Ferguson covers a lot of ground here, not just geographically but philosophically, as he explores both how towering historical figures like Lincoln are memorialized as well as the cultural and historical repercussions of that memorialization. Ferguson alsos weaves in an affecting personal narrative, of interest to anyone who has fallen under the sway of historical personage to the point of achieving treasured "buff" status.
March 30, 2024
This was a great read. Andrew Ferguson travels throughout the United States to see how Abraham Lincoln has impacted American history and culture. From Virginia, to California, Indiana, Kentucky, and to Washington D.C. Ferguson describes very effectively how Lincoln has not only impacted American culture and history, but in Americans personal lives as well. But Lincoln also made an impact around the world, not just the United States. His nuanced description of Lincoln the man and Lincoln the icon really shows how we can make a man into marbel, even when the real Lincoln is more compelling than the myth of Lincoln.
September 6, 2017
I listened to this pre-Goodreads. I recall liking it okay, but I also recall liking it better when it was called Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.
I was reminded of this book after I completed Lincoln in the Bardo. Maybe I was inhabited by a spirit?
I was reminded of this book after I completed Lincoln in the Bardo. Maybe I was inhabited by a spirit?
March 30, 2022
An utterly entertaining, sympathetic and comprehensive look at how Americans interact with Abraham Lincoln. He is arguably, our greatest President and we have claimed him. The myth, the man, the moment in time still resonate today on a deeply personal level and without lecturing or labeling the author presents the relevant evidence. Delightful.
August 2, 2020
Andrew Ferguson is a magazine writer who wrote an article about his trip to Richmond, VA to cover the unveiling of a Lincoln statue and interview the neighbors. Andrew started thinking about the place of Lincoln in America in the 21st century and wrote this book. He visits the Chicago Historical Society who has many Lincoln "relics" and talks to a curator about how museum exhibits have evolved over time. Andrew is at the Lincoln Museum and Library at the time of its opening. While waiting for a museum director, he holds one of the 5 hand written copies of the Gettysburg Address. He visits Lincoln collectors and in Santa Claus, IN spends time with a convention of Lincoln "presenters", some here with his wife "Mary". The final section is a road trip in reverse (Springfield to the Sinking Springs, KY birthplace) with his wife and his son and daughter. There is an informational and light aspect to Ferguson's writing and was an enjoyable read.
November 18, 2020
An unclassifiably fun book by an unclassifiably fun writer, Land of Lincoln is charming and brilliant and endlessly entertaining -- exactly like its author. A must for the Lincoln buff, for the lover of travel books, and for the reader who loves to see beautiful language deployed beautifully.
June 30, 2021
Makes important statements and insights into public history, Confederate memory, and the personal that influences public history. I just wish he had been insightful about his own writing, which shows a lack of up-to-date thinking outside of a traditionally white, male, heterosexual perspective.
January 31, 2022
Enjoyable book. I like how the author remains impartial as possible on the subject and presents the facts. Lincoln is a complicated history, and often misinterpreted for good and bad. In the end, his legacy is still fascinating.
March 19, 2025
Why all the hate for the National Park Service? Other than that, I enjoyed it. And it seems to have aged well for a travelogue. But I think I liked "A Voyage Long and Strange" by Tony Horwitz more.
February 23, 2020
Didn’t find it very engaging as written but i did learn a number of things about lincolnphiles and the lincoln tourism industry that I didn’t know.
November 12, 2020
Entertaining and interesting read. Most helpful was a selection of excerpts from the major biographical works, particularly Ida Tarbell’s book “The life of Abraham Lincoln.”
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