The respected author of _Inventing America_ tries to make the case that, in effect, Lincoln rewrote the U.S. Constitution in the minds of his listeners and the entire nation with the unassuming but powerful 272-word Gettysburg Address. His aim was bring our conception of our country and its values more closely in line with the Declaration of Independence. To do this, Wills touches upon Greek and Latin styles of rhetoric, the cemetery culture of 19th century America, as well as Lincoln's biography and previous writings and speeches about national unity and slavery. This 1992 book bogs down a bit in details, but is a thought-provoking piece of persuasion nonetheless.
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The review of this Book prepared by David Loftus