about his book /"And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle/"
This event was recorded on November 1, 2022.
Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and New York Times bestselling author, chronicles the life and moral evolution of Abraham Lincoln and explores why and how Lincoln faced secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery to expand America's possibilities.
Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, he is the author of the New York Times bestsellers His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, The Soul of America, The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words. from Jesus, Destiny and Power: George Herbert Walker Bush's American Odyssey, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, American Gospel and Franklin and Winston.
Emmy Award-winning Larry Wilmore has been a television producer, actor, comedian and writer for over 25 years. He can currently be heard as host of Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air on The Ringer Podcast Network. The show features Wilmore's unique blend of humor and wit as he dives into the issues of the week and interviews guests from the world of politics, entertainment, culture, sports and beyond. of the. Larry can also be seen in the Paramount film Jerry and Margo Go Large, alongside Bryan Cranston and Annette Benning. He is also an executive producer, alongside Kerry Washington, on the upcoming legal drama Reasonable Doubt for Hulu's Onyx Collective, which premieres this fall. He also appeared in and executive produced the Netflix series Amend: The Fight for America. Wilmore is perhaps best known for his role as host of Comedy Central's The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, which debuted in January 2015 and ran for nearly two years. Wilmore is co-creator and consulting producer on HBO's Insecure. He also helped launch the ABC series Black-ish as executive producer and is co-creator of the spin-off Grownish. Previously, Wilmore made memorable appearances as the "senior black correspondent" on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and hosted his own Showtime "town hall" style comedy specials, Larry Wilmore's Race, Religion & Sex. He has written for In Living Color, The PJ's (which he co-created), The Office (on which he appeared as Mr. Brown, the diversity consultant), and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He also served as creator, writer and executive producer of The Bernie Mac Show, earning him an Emmy Award in 2002 for "Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series" and a Peabody Award in 2001.
A president who governed a country at war with itself has a lot to teach us in a context of polarization and political crisis in the 21st century. Abraham Lincoln was president when relentless secessionists made no concessions in a clash of visions inextricably linked to money, power, race, identity and faith. He was hated and praised, excoriated and revered. With Lincoln, we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations.
Both familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen in the popular mind as the greatest of American presidents – a distant icon – or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln – a flawed man whose moral commitment against slavery was essential to the story of justice in America. This is the Lincoln who, as a child, was immersed in the emancipation sermons of Baptist preachers; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he says, to do good as God gave him light to see good.
This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership in the Civil War to his tragic assassination at Ford's Theater on Good Friday 1865: his rise, his self-education through reading, his loves, his struggles. of depression, his political failures, his growing faith and his enduring conviction that slavery must end. In a nation shaped by the courage of slaves of the era and the courageous testimony of 19th-century black Americans, Lincoln's story illuminates the ways and means of politics, the distribution of power in a warlike democracy, sustainability of white supremacy. in America, and the capacity of consciousness to shape the whirlwind of events.
Lincoln was not all he could have been – few human beings are – but he was more than many men have ever been. We could have done worse. And we have. And as Lincoln himself would readily admit, we can always do better. But we will only do so if we see Abraham Lincoln – and ourselves – in their entirety.
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