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 What Fanon Said by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Cool by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Basic Writings of Josiah Royce, Volume I by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book How We Got to Coney Island by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Europe After Wyclif by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Unpolitical by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Systems of Life by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Cruising the Library by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Rat That Got Away by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Crane's Walk by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Eclipse of the Utopias of Labor by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book The Pulse of Humanitarian Assistance by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Kant on the Frontier by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book Left Bank of the Hudson by James A. Percoco
Cover of the book An Ethics of Betrayal 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