The Crooked Path to Abolition

I read this remarkable book with pleasure and admiration. Oakes writes like a dream. -- Don Herzog, author of Sovereignty, RIP Cogently argued, by one of our foremost historians of emancipation. -- Manisha Sinha, author of The Slave's Cause No other scholar has shed more light on Lincoln's way of dealing with slavery. -- Michael Burlingame, author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life On Lincoln, on the Civil War, on slavery's downfall, on constitutional change-this is an indispensable book. -- Amy Dru Stanley, author of From Bondage to Contract Brilliant...A landmark contribution. -- David S. Reynolds, author of Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times With crisp and lucid prose, Oakes provides a map that guides the reader through the zigs and zags of the path to freedom. -- James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom A diamond of historical scholarship, with deep research and understanding shining brilliantly in every facet. -- Sidney Blumenthal, author of The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Eleanor Roosevelt used to say, 'If you must compromise, compromise up.' The champion compromiser up was Lincoln, as Oakes proves, avoiding the simple views of him as just opportunist or just emancipator. He knew where he was going, even when he had to obscure the goal. -- Garry Wills, author of Lincoln at Gettysburg With this superb book, Oakes opens the way for a thorough retelling of the nation's history from the American Revolution to the Civil War. -- Sean Wilentz, author of No Property in Man