Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural
About this audiobook
After four years of unspeakable horror and sacrifice on both sides, the Civil War was about to end. On March 4, 1865, at his second inauguration, President Lincoln did not offer the North the victory speech it yearned for; nor did he blame the South solely for the sin of slavery. Calling the whole nation to account, Lincoln offered a moral framework for peace and reconciliation. Eventually this “with malice toward none” address would be accepted and revered as one of the greatest in the nation’s history.
White’s compelling description of Lincoln’s articulation of our nation’s struggle and the suffering of all—North, South, soldier, slave—offers new insight into Lincoln’s own hard-won victory over doubt and his promise of authority and passion. Delivered only weeks before his assassination, the speech was the culmination of Lincoln’s moral and rhetorical genius.
About the author
Ronald C. White Jr. is the author and editor of five books on American intellectual, religious, and social history. He has taught at Colorado College, Whitworth College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and UCLA. He is currently dean and professor of American religious history at San Francisco Theological Seminary. He lives in San Anselmo and La Canada, California.
Raymond Todd is an actor and director in the theater as well as a poet and documentary filmmaker. He plays jazz trombone for the Leatherstocking quartet, an ensemble that gets its name from one of his favorite Blackstone narrations, The Deerslayer. Todd lives in New York.
