Seward
Lincoln's Indispensable Man
Simon & Schuster · Print & ebook · September 18, 2012
From the acclaimed author of John Jay: Founding Father comes the illuminating and fascinating biography of the leader of Lincoln’s “team of rivals” and one of the most important Americans of the 19th century.
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- Who it’s for
- A consequential political life opens onto the Civil War and America's expanding ambitions.
- Themes
- Political leadership, Civil War and its aftermath, U.S. territorial expansion
- Genres
- Political Lives, Civil War Era, 19th-Century America
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For younger readers: Bloody Times, Lincoln in His Own Words, A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln
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From the acclaimed author of John Jay: Founding Father comes the illuminating and fascinating biography of the leader of Lincoln’s “team of rivals” and one of the most important Americans of the 19th century. William Henry Seward was one of the most important Americans of the nineteenth century. Progressive governor of New York and outspoken US senator, he was the odds-on favorite to win the 1860 Republican nomination for president.
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As secretary of state and Lincoln’s closest adviser during the Civil War, Seward not only managed foreign affairs but had a substantial role in military, political, and personnel matters. Some of Lincoln’s critics even saw Seward, erroneously, as the power behind the throne; this is why John Wilkes Booth and his colleagues attempted to kill Seward as well as Lincoln. Seward survived the assassin’s attack, continued as secretary of state, and emerged as a staunch supporter of President Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s controversial successor. Through his purchase of Alaska (“Seward’s Folly”) and his groundwork for the purchase of the Canal Zone and other territory, Seward set America on course to become a world empire. Seward was not only important, he was fascinating. Most nights this well-known raconteur with unruly hair and untidy clothes would gather diplomats, soldiers, politicians, or actors around his table to enjoy a cigar, a drink, and a good story. Drawing on hundreds of sources not available to or neglected by previous biographers, Walter Stahr sheds new light on this complex and central figure, as well as on pivotal events of the Civil War and its aftermath.
Power in the Union
A consequential political life opens onto the Civil War and America's expanding ambitions.
Come here for
- A close look at power beside Lincoln, beyond the battlefield
- Diplomacy, political ambition, and the Alaska purchase
Expect
- A wide-ranging portrait of a central, complicated statesman
- Civil War politics with an eye on America's future reach
Where it sits
| Civil War Era | 75% |
|---|---|
| Political Lives | 61% |
| 19th-Century America | 36% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Political Lives
- 19th-Century America
- Diplomacy
- Authors
- Walter Stahr
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster
- Published
- September 18, 2012
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Political leadership · Civil War and its aftermath · U.S. territorial expansion
- Reading lane
- Political Lives