Civil War Book Club

Lincoln and the Fight for Peace by John Alvon

John Avlon, former editor of the Daily Beast and CNN commentator, examines the last 6 weeks of Lincoln's life and his commitment to please and reconciliation.

From the New York Time Book Review 

Avlon devotes much of “Lincoln and the Fight for Peace” to the last six weeks of Lincoln’s life, from his eloquent Second Inaugural (and its memorable exhortation, as the Civil War folded to its close, to show “malice toward none” and “charity for all”) to his assassination on April 14, 1865. Studding this story are abundant examples of Lincoln’s determination at war’s end to blend justice with reconciliation, lest justice alone become punishing and reconciliation alone produce a peace that made the war’s horrendous loss of life “meaningless.”

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