Summers with Lincoln

Looking for the Man in the Monuments

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Art Technique, Sculpture, History, Americas, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Cover of the book Summers with Lincoln by James A. Percoco, Fordham University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: James A. Percoco ISBN: 9780823228973
Publisher: Fordham University Press Publication: August 25, 2009
Imprint: Fordham University Press Language: English
Author: James A. Percoco
ISBN: 9780823228973
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Publication: August 25, 2009
Imprint: Fordham University Press
Language: English

A journey across America revealing “the history of how seven of these monuments came to be . . . and what they mean to us today” (The Washington Times).

Across the country, in the middle of busy city squares and hidden on quiet streets, there are nearly two hundred statues erected in memory of Abraham Lincoln. No other American has ever been so widely commemorated.

A few years ago, Jim Percoco, a history teacher with a passion for both Lincoln and public sculpture, set off to see what he might learn about some of these monuments—what they meant to their creators and to the public when they were unveiled, and what they mean to us today. The result is a fascinating chronicle of four summers on the road looking for Lincoln stories in statues of marble and bronze.

Percoco selects seven emblematic works, among them Thomas Ball’s Emancipation Group, erected east of the Capitol in 1876 with private funds from African Americans and dedicated by Frederick Douglass; Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s majestic Standing Lincoln of 1887 in Chicago; Paul Manship’s 1932 Lincoln the Hoosier Youth, in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Gutzon Borglum’s 1911 Seated Lincoln, struggling with the pain of leadership, beckoning visitors to sit next to him on his metal bench in Newark, New Jersey.

At each stop, Percoco chronicles the history of the monument, spotlighting its artistic, social, political, and cultural origins. His descriptions draw fresh meaning from mute stone and cold metal—raising provocative questions not just about who Lincoln might have been, but about what we’ve wanted him to be in the monuments we’ve built.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A journey across America revealing “the history of how seven of these monuments came to be . . . and what they mean to us today” (The Washington Times).

Across the country, in the middle of busy city squares and hidden on quiet streets, there are nearly two hundred statues erected in memory of Abraham Lincoln. No other American has ever been so widely commemorated.

A few years ago, Jim Percoco, a history teacher with a passion for both Lincoln and public sculpture, set off to see what he might learn about some of these monuments—what they meant to their creators and to the public when they were unveiled, and what they mean to us today. The result is a fascinating chronicle of four summers on the road looking for Lincoln stories in statues of marble and bronze.

Percoco selects seven emblematic works, among them Thomas Ball’s Emancipation Group, erected east of the Capitol in 1876 with private funds from African Americans and dedicated by Frederick Douglass; Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s majestic Standing Lincoln of 1887 in Chicago; Paul Manship’s 1932 Lincoln the Hoosier Youth, in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Gutzon Borglum’s 1911 Seated Lincoln, struggling with the pain of leadership, beckoning visitors to sit next to him on his metal bench in Newark, New Jersey.

At each stop, Percoco chronicles the history of the monument, spotlighting its artistic, social, political, and cultural origins. His descriptions draw fresh meaning from mute stone and cold metal—raising provocative questions not just about who Lincoln might have been, but about what we’ve wanted him to be in the monuments we’ve built.

More books from Fordham University Press

Cover of the book Political Magic by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Women of Faith by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Shakespeare as a Way of Life by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Divinanimality by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Ville by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Diary of Prisoner 17326 by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Ecclesiastical Knights by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Eclipse of the Utopias of Labor by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Right to Narcissism by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Life of Things, the Love of Things by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Let It Shine! by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Out of the Ordinary by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Foucault's Critical Ethics by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Will as Commitment and Resolve by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Veiled Desires by James A. Percoco
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy