I strongly disagree with the reviewer who said this book should be read by all Black Americans. Yes they should read it, but Black Americans aren't the only ones. White Americans, probably Whites in all parts of the world, need to read it even more. The unjust treatment Whites have been accorded and continue to accord to Blacks should be known and understood by every White. I am White and have not felt prejudice against Blacks. I try to convince people, that blacks are people too! Most whites still do not believe this, even today. They frequently will accept a single Black or a Black couple. They do not as easily accept Blacks as a whole group.

This is a compelling book that, once begun, is difficult to put down. Be warned - only emotionally secure, mentally balanced people with a global perspective and genuine desire to learn would be able to appreciate the depth, scope and meaning of this book. This will be a very difficult book for some on both sides of the color line. It makes one wonder at the biblical saying "the first shall be last and the last shall be first..." Hmmm..

Must be read and understood by all African Americans as well as taught to the young.

This book is...an insult to the intelligence of all those former slaves who were wise enough to judge Lincoln by the actual results he brougth rather than measuring him against some perfect set of ideals that had no relation to political reality.

True, Frederick Douglas has his doubts about Lincoln right up until the end. But in the end he appreciated the role Lincoln had played as an emancipator and judged his efforts to be "sublime".

Lincon's gift lay in his capacity to grow. In the final analysis he achieved greatness whatever the flaws he may have started with. Douglass recognized this and Lincoln in turn cane to recognize the greatness of Douglas and of all the former slaves who stood and contributed to the creation of a more just society.

Lincoln and the slaves overcame their limitations together. They each worked in their own ways to achieve a more just society. It is a shame the author of this work refused to recognize this obvious truth.

Unbelievable! Bennett is rehashing and keeping alive his hardly new views from the early 70s when he first wrote on this topic for EBONY magazine! Scholars have overwhelmed his points for 30 years with their demonstrations of Lincoln's personal growth and political evolution; his personal reflections on God's favor of emancipation, his relationships with Elizabeth Keckly, Sojourner Truth (as well as Frederick Douglas, who was invited in by Lincoln as the first black man to be received at an inauguration), his dropping the colonization idea in 1862, his endorsement of educated black suffrage in 1864, the approved Freedmen's Bureau in 1865 (the first Federal support agency). True, some scholars (Stephen Oates comes to mind) have taken Lincoln's growth to too great an extreme, but he was even farther from Bennett's portrait. In truth, almost no one in the 1860s could pass Bennett's requirements for purity from racism and Douglas's qualified praise of Lincoln noted by Bennett was to keep the newly freed slaves from overeacting in their idolization. (PS, I wanted to give this 0 stars.)

did this guy vote for mcclellan? the book is nothing but axe grinding. ok, lincoln wasn't perfect. but if he had lost the election to either douglas or mcclellan things would have been a lot worse. the man was trying to save a country from being torn apart at the seams. the author cites a wide range of "historical evidence". he forgets that when you quote sources its usually smart to leave them in context. i may be no scholar on the president, but i have read a lot about him. lincoln was a man of his times, as we are men of our times. a lot of revisionist historians employ the tactic of deleting this fact. the book is nothing but copperhead propoganda in an election year. far superior works are out there. the author will make friends among the liberal "culture police" that have been on patrol for the last eight years. for a better book on the sixteenth president read mr. oates work "with malice towards none." it is far more balanced and correctly researched.