my name is jonathan white and i ll the vice chair of the lincoln forum. our final speaker this morning is brian dirck. he s a professor of history at anderson university in indiana. he is the author of numerous books on abraham lincoln, imagining america, lincoln in indiana and others. his subjects probe some of the most interesting and relevant topics in lincoln s life and he has won awards for his work including the best book on lincoln published in 2007. he had the opportunity to travel to seoul where he addressed the korean abraham lincoln society. i know. i d like to hear more about that. how can i get on that gravy train? today he will talk to us about his new book the black heavens a review at civil war monitor states students of the 16th president will want to add this concise thought provoking and sensitively written volume to their book shelves. please join me in welcoming brian dirck. [ applause ] well, hello, everybody. it s good to be here. it really is.
chairerald holzer, vice of the lincoln forum. it s a pleasure to welcome you to panel discussions we will have on foundations of lincoln s leadership. ideas, but principally people who inspired and motivated him. it is a pleasure to welcome as rightnel from my left to the author of the political life of abraham lincoln, volume one, sidney blumenthal. richard burr kaiser, the life of abraham lincoln. author not only of the recently published american ulysses: the life of ulysses s grant, and the author of a. lincoln, ronald white. thank you to you all. [applause] our goal today is to hear from you and see if we can evoke differences of opinion. we will certainly welcome audience participation and questions from our usual microphone. i will give you a signal in about 20 minutes or so to encourage you to line up and engage with us. first person i want to talk to in relation to lincoln s inspiration are the three sets of parents. not one person, but three. the three sets of
i mean the woman he referred to as his angel mother, nancy lincoln, the woman who regarded in his fatherand his whose relationship with him remains something of a controversy even today. of the three, who was influential and who was a negative influence? why don t we start with sydney. microphone. negativesitive and the were about one experience, and that was an experience of being in the lincoln family growing up. him,tepmother protected crucially, from his father, which enabled his early education and that was the initial positive spark for lincoln. lincoln was a bright, inquisitive, naturally inquisitive child, but he was suppressed by his father. was ather himself suppressed man and that have enormous influence all the way through his life and deeply on his articulate thinking on slavery. had been a poor third farmer in kentucky. he had been cut out of the family inheritance. his stepbrother had taken it all and wound up being a quasi-aristocratic. he had terrible luck
it is a pleasure to welcome on our panel from my left to right the politicalf life of abraham lincoln: volume one, a self-made man, sidney blumenthal. and richard burr kaiser, the author of founder son: a life of abraham lincoln. author, not the only of the recently published american ulysses, a life of ulysses s grant, but a biographer of abraham lincoln, an author of a lincoln and expert of lincoln s writings, harold wright. welcome to you all. [applause] youur goal is to hear from and to see if we can evoke differences of opinion. the evil certainly welcome audience the well certainly we will certainly welcome audience for dissipation. i will give you a single to line up and engage with us. the first person i want to talk to in relation to lincoln s inspiration are the three sets of parents. the three sets of parents in his life. you have all written about them. by the three amine the woman he referred to as his angel mother, nancy lincoln. the woman regarded him as
the life of abraham lincoln. and finally, the author not only of the recently published american ulysses: the life of ulysses s grant, and the author of a. lincoln, ronald white. welcome to you all. [applause] our goal today is to hear from you and see if we can evoke differences of opinion. we will certainly welcome audience participation and questions from our usual microphone. i will give you a signal in about 20 minutes or so to encourage you to line up and engage with us. the first person i want to talk to in relation to lincoln s inspiration are the three sets of parents. not one person, but three. the three sets of parents in his life. you have all written about them. by the three, the woman who he referred to has his angel mother, nancy lincoln. his stepmother, sarah bush johnston lincoln. and his father, his relationship with him remains something of a mystery or a controversy even today. of the three who was influential and who was a negative influence? why do