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A captivating look at how Abraham Lincoln evolved into one of our seminal foreign-policy presidents—and helped point the way to America’s rise to world power.
This is the story of one of the most breathtaking feats in the annals of American foreign policy—performed by one of the most unlikely figures. Abraham Lincoln is not often remembered as a great foreign-policy president. He had never traveled overseas and spoke no foreign languages. And yet, during the Civil War, Lincoln and his team skillfully managed to stare down the Continent’s great powers—deftly avoiding European intervention on the side of the Confederacy. In the process, the United States emerged as a world power in its own right.
Engaging, insightful, and highly original, Lincoln in the World is a tale set at the intersection of personal character and national power. The narrative focuses tightly on five distinct, intensely human conflicts that helped define Lincoln’s approach to foreign affairs—from his debate, as a young congressman, with his law partner over the conduct of the Mexican War, to his deadlock with Napoleon III over the French occupation of Mexico. Bursting with colorful characters like Lincoln’s bowie-knife-wielding minister to Russia, Cassius Marcellus Clay; the cunning French empress, Eugénie; and the hapless Mexican monarch Maximilian—Lincoln in the World draws a finely wrought portrait of a president and his team at the dawn of American power.
In the Age of Lincoln, we see shadows of our own world. The international arena in the 1860s could be a merciless moral vacuum. Lincoln’s times demanded the cold, realistic pursuit of national interest, and, in important ways, resembled our own increasingly multipolar world. And yet, like ours, Lincoln’s era was also an information age, a period of rapid globalization. Steamships, telegraph wires, and proliferating new media were transforming the world. Global influence required the use of “soft power” as well as hard.
Anchored by meticulous research into overlooked archives, Lincoln in the World reveals the sixteenth president to be one of America’s indispensable diplomats—and a key architect of America’s emergence as a global superpower. Much has been written about how Lincoln saved the Union, but Lincoln in the World highlights the lesser-known—yet equally vital—role he played on the world stage during those tumultuous years of war and division.
- Sales Rank: #1708797 in Books
- Published on: 2014-10-28
- Released on: 2014-10-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .90" w x 5.15" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 432 pages
Amazon.com Review
A Conversation with Kevin Peraino, author of Lincoln in the World
Q) What sets Lincoln in the World apart from other books on the Great Emancipator?
A) There are thousands of books about Lincoln—but virtually none about his foreign policy. There hasn’t been a holistic, human account of Lincoln’s role in foreign affairs in nearly 70 years. Part of the problem is that Lincoln had a powerful and competent secretary of state in William Henry Seward. So books that put Lincoln at the center of his own foreign policy tend to end up as hagiographies. To solve that problem, I included only those episodes in which Lincoln was deeply involved—tightly focusing the narrative around five distinct conflicts that helped define the character of a Lincolnian foreign policy.
Q) Jon Meacham, James McPherson, Amanda Foreman, and Michael Burlingame are among the handful of heavy hitters who have praised Lincoln in the World, calling it “engaging,” “penetrating,” “riveting,” and “elegantly written.” With such a welcome early reception, did you have any concerns adding to the existing Lincoln literature?
A) Yes! My friends teased me about it: What could I possibly add to the record about one of the world’s most written-about figures? But what astonished me as I was researching this was just how much fascinating new material about Lincoln has recently come to light. Scholars like Burlingame have dug deeply into the archival material in recent years—combing through not just the traditional letters and diaries, but also the archived papers of past historians and biographers, looking for information that has ended up on the cutting room floor. I took a similar approach—traveling from Springfield to London to Lexington in search of fresh material.
Q) Did you come across any interesting facts or details about Lincoln in your research that you think readers would be surprised to learn?
A) I was struck by Mary Lincoln’s attempts to influence diplomatic appointments. She was far more cosmopolitan than her husband. As a girl she had attended a school where students spoke French, run by Parisian aristocrats. Her parents were friends with some of the country’s great diplomats, and her childhood home was filled with Belgian rugs and French mahogany furniture. She certainly felt—with some justification—that she was more knowledgeable about the world than her husband. And she let him know it. On several occasions she urged him to appoint her candidates as foreign envoys, and she repeatedly tangled with Lincoln’s chief diplomat, Seward.
Q)There are many fascinating individuals who were involved in Lincoln’s foreign policy legacy and who you highlight in Lincoln in the World. Who did you find most interesting to research?
A) The French emperor, Napoleon III, was a particularly intriguing character. He was a poor strategist and a serial womanizer—deeply insecure and usually inscrutable. Otto von Bismarck described him as “a great unfathomed capacity.” Even his youthful girlfriends found him difficult to read. One marriage prospect later said that Napoleon was so opaque that she worried she would have “broken his head open just to see what was in it.” Lincoln, too, found himself wondering what Napoleon was thinking when the French emperor invaded Mexico during the height of the Civil War.
Q) The Lincoln whom you portray in your book is in many ways a different man than we think we know. Which aspect of his character most surprised you?
A) I was genuinely surprised by the scope of his worldview. We learn in grade school that European politics played some role in his decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. But Lincoln was constantly thinking about America’s place in the world. His first political handbill, nearly thirty years before the outbreak of the Civil War, argued that local schools should teach students more about foreign cultures. His economic vision as a Whig coming up in Illinois politics was all about building roads and canals—important links to the outside world. By the time he took office, he was making the case that the “central idea” of the looming war was to prove “that popular government is not an absurdity.” We’ve all heard Lincoln’s famous lines about America as the world’s “last, best hope.” But there’s a lot more to the story.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The scope of Abraham Lincoln's presidency is usually portrayed as strictly staying within the borders of the United States. Journalist Peraino focuses on a wider, although not unfamiliar, narrative, placing Lincoln in the world using six distinctive episodes in his political career. Spanning from the first major American foreign conflict—the Mexican War, with a debate between Lincoln and his law partner Billy Herndon—and ending with Lincoln's stalemate with Napoleon III over the French occupation of Mexico, Peraino explains how Lincoln used a public discourse campaign that made politician's choices accountable to the people. In doing so, Lincoln helped to catapult the U.S. into a position of world power. The account is at once informative and interesting, showcasing the formation of specific slices of Lincoln's foreign policy and portraying a very human Lincoln—as opposed to the demigod he has become in the popular imagination. Peraino's account offers insight into specific moments in Lincoln's career without recounting the generalities of his life; thus, it may be most fruitful to scholars already well versed in Lincoln studies. Nevertheless, he has produced a perceptive work that is both entertaining and accessible to a general readership. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM. (Nov.)
From Booklist
Lincoln’s foreign policy reposes in the footnotes of the fiery trial of the Civil War. Aside from his cave-in to Britain over the Trent affair of 1861, which possibly averted its intervention on the side of the Confederacy, Lincoln was scarcely involved in diplomacy. So runs a conventional historical assessment that Peraino challenges. Asserting that Lincoln was “one of America’s seminal foreign policy presidents,” Peraino positions Lincoln as a pragmatic idealist who anticipated America’s destiny to become a world power. To show Lincoln believed this would and should be realized through economic growth and moral example, Peraino illustrates Lincoln’s disagreement over the Mexican-American War with law partner William Herndon, who supported territorial expansion by conquest, which Lincoln opposed as unjust. In comparable contrasts with actors in American foreign affairs of the 1860s, Peraino opposes Lincoln’s views and actions to those of Secretary of State William Seward, Lord Palmerston of Britain, Napoleon III of France, and Karl Marx of the proletariat. With original research, Peraino achieves a remarkable triple play for readers of Lincoln, the Civil War, and diplomatic history. --Gilbert Taylor
Most helpful customer reviews
23 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
Starts off well, but loses focus
By Chefdevergue
It is certainly an interesting approach: examine Abraham Lincoln's foreign policy by focusing on specific episodes in his life and presidency. Considering that what little most people know about Lincoln's foreign policy comes from The Trent Affair, this could have made for a fascinating and informative book, so I was very much looking forward to reading what Peraino had to offer on the subject.
And the initial "episodes" were very promising; an investigation of the evolution of the younger Lincoln's world view (as contrasted the views of his law partner William Herndon) was excellently done, and demonstrates not only how the Mexican War (as divisive in Lincoln's time as the Vietnam War would be during the 1960's and 1970's) not only had a huge influence on Lincoln's view of the foreign relations and how the United States should conduct itself, but also similarly shaped the opinions of most of Lincoln's colleagues and adversaries during the American Civil War. Peraino then follows with an expertly-drawn account of the struggle between Lincoln and WH Seward about how the foreign policy of the United States would be shaped and who would give voice to it. Peraino nicely portrays a new and uncertain President Lincoln facing challenges from within his own cabinet and how he managed the strong personality of Seward with expertise and tact. This episode gave me fuller appreciation of Lincoln's skill as a diplomat; it would have been fascinating to see him operate as a true world leader in a different time.
Again, the most obvious episode upon which to focus a book such as this is The Trent Affair, and so Peraino proceeds to what should be the centerpiece of his book, "Lincoln vs. Palmerston." Peraino again does a splendid job with his narrative and analysis, at this point in the book, I was prepared to write a 4-star or 5-star review. Everything up to this point in this book is informative and superbly done.
But then the wheels start to fall off. "Lincoln vs. Marx?" Really? This is such a pasted-on theme for the next episode that Peraino should have been embarrassed to proceed with it. The chapter, which deals primarily with the Lincoln's attempt to shape public opinion concerning the American Civil War both at home and abroad, has next to nothing to do with Karl Marx. This doesn't stop Peraino from struggling to force the narrative to refocus periodically on Marx. His rather weak rationale for all of this is that Marx was a very influential correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune and that surely Lincoln was familiar with his writings. All well and good, but Marx' partnership with the Tribune ended relatively early in Lincoln's presidency and it becomes very hard to argue persuasively that Lincoln had even the foggiest of notions (or cared) what Marx thought about the American Civil War. As a result, the chapter rapidly loses focus and stumbles around trying to find a thematic thread to help hold it together, without success.
This is followed by the largest, and most unwieldy, chapter in the book. Dealing with Napoléon III and the French invasion of Mexico, the narrative struggles to find focus repeatedly. The problem is that there really isn't any foreign policy to discuss here. Lincoln, up to his eyeballs in insurrection at home, lodges a formal protest and then proceeds to do --- well, pretty much nothing. And really, what is Lincoln supposed to do anyway, at least for his first term? His priorities were always going to be at home, no matter what criticisms drunken idiots like James McDougall might have directed at him. By the time the United States was in a position to apply pressure on France, it was Andrew Johnson who was President. Indeed the Johnson administration did bring American military might to bear, and Napoléon III was obliged to withdraw his forces from Mexico and leave Maximiliano I to his fate. Maybe Lincoln would have done the same thing, but this is history & not speculation. As a result, this chapter fizzles out without any real conclusion to be found.
The final chapter (again) really doesn't concern Lincoln, in my opinion, although Peraino tries awfully hard to make his case. Lincoln's legacy as seen through the words and deeds of his surviving acolytes? Yeah, I suppose. It doesn't really add anything to our understanding of Lincoln, and in keeping with the rest of the second half of the book, struggles to find its focus.
So taken as a whole, this book really is a mixed bag. I feel that Peraino tried to make more of the subject than could really be found, at least in the format he chose. Certainly there is plenty to be discussed when it comes to foreign policy and the American Civil War, both within the United States and in Europe. As global events go, this war was a big one, on many levels. However, this is not the direction in which Peraino has chosen to go, and we are left with this rather muddled effort as a result.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Outstanding book on Abraham Lincoln's views of the world
By Joe Owen
Keven Peraino's "Lincoln in the world: The Making of a Statesman and the Dawn of American Power" is an outstanding book about Abraham Lincoln's policies and view of the world outside the United States. This is one of a few books about Lincoln's foreign policies. That is amazing because of all the books, articles, opinions, and other works about Lincoln that a book has not dealt specifically on Lincoln's policies, opinions, and values of the world outside the U.S. The book gets into the specific times that effected Lincoln's outlook beginning with the War With Mexico.
Lincoln's anti-war opinion as a young congressman from Illinois cost him friends, and his seat in congress. Lincoln went against the "American Expansion" doctrine of James Polk and the majority of the public when he voiced his opinion that the United States got into the war with Mexico because of greed. He only served one term in congress for that opinion. During that time the United States was in an expansion mood and the "manifest destiny" was the spirit of the majority of the American populace who felt that US presence should be from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The next part of Peraino's book describes the relationship between Lincoln and his Secretary of State William Seward. Their relationship helped mold U.S. Foreign policy during the Civil War when European powers such as Great Britain, France, and Spain were at first undecided whether or not they were going to officially recognize the Confederate States of America as a seperate country. Thankfully,this never occured though it was quite shakey for awhile. Especially with the an international diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil War. On November 8, 1861, the USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail packet RMS Trent and removed, as contraband of war, two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell. The envoys were bound for Great Britain and France to press the Confederacy's case for diplomatic recognition in Europe.
The initial reaction in the United States was to rally against Britain, threatening war; but President Abraham Lincoln and his top advisors did not want to risk war. In the Confederate States, the hope was that the incident would lead to a permanent rupture in Anglo-American relations and even diplomatic recognition by Britain of the Confederacy. Confederates realized their independence potentially depended on a war between Britain and the U.S. In Britain, the public expressed outrage at this violation of neutral rights and insult to their national honor. The British government demanded an apology and the release of the prisoners while it took steps to strengthen its military forces in Canada and the Atlantic.
After several weeks of tension and loose talk of war, the crisis was resolved when the Lincoln administration released the envoys and disavowed Captain Wilkes's actions. No formal apology was issued. Mason and Slidell resumed their voyage to Britain but failed in their goal of achieving diplomatic recognition.
Peraino also descibes Lincoln's dealing with Napoleon III over the French occupation of Mexico and the puppet emperor Maximilion. Mexico was still upset over the outcome of the Mexican War of a decade earlier and Lincoln saw that France could possibly interfere with the border of the United States and Mexico by their French Cavalry stationed in Northern Mexico. Lincoln was able to handle this calmly as well and made sure that France stayed in Mexico. Lincoln's bowie-knife-wielding minister to Russia, Cassius Marcellus Clay, who the Russians admired but couldn't quite understand was one of the great but also eccentric ministers that Lincoln sent around the world.
Overall this is an outstanding book that will be recognized as helping us understand more of the genius of President Abraham Lincoln. It is a great read that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
A Great Man Bearing a Great Burden
By not a natural
Kevin Pearino's Lincoln in the World is a well written and richly informative book on a topic that is under-researched and too often overlooked. Pearino shows the reader the harrowing complexity of relations among nations even in the ostensibly simpler times of the middle of the Nineteenth Century. He also graphically depicts, as well as anyone I've read, the physical, psychological, and emotional toll that global turmoil and uncertainty took on Lincoln as he struggled to preserve the Union.
For readers historically unschooled beyond usual high school treatments of the decades that immediately preceded and included the Civil War, invoking the importance of American foreign relations may draw a blank. After all, what external events could be of concern to a nation tearing itself apart as the industrialized, economically developed North, based on wage labor, clashed with the rural, agricultural South, based on slavery?
As Pearino makes abundantly clear, one emphatically important answer to this question is intrinsic to the South's principal agricultural product, cotton. All the nations of Western Europe, but especially Great Britain, were heavily dependent on the American South for enormous quantities of this staple commodity and its use values that took so many essential forms. As a result, nations on the other side of the Atlantic, far removed from the domestic political discord and horrific armed combat between the North and the South, had a strong material interest in the fortunes of the War. Defeat of the South and abolition of slave labor need not have meant the end of a robust trade in cotton, but who could predict the consequences with even a modicum certainty?
Lincoln and his able but erratic and headstrong Secretary of State, William Seward, clashed repeatedly, each with seemingly reasonable arguments, as to the best way to prosecute the war and defeat the South without drawing European powers into the fray. Southern states, understandably, sought the assistance of their cotton-dependent clients. Both North and South knew that strong intervention by European forces would probably mean victory for the South. As a result, Lincoln spent many sleepless nights pondering the best way to fight the War without antagonizing or frightening other powerful nations with which the U.S. was inextricably tied.
Lincoln's world was further complicated by half-hearted but distracting French foreign policy adventurism in Mexico, and by disagreements among American politicians as to whether or not the U.S. should engage in expansionism, annexing territory that nominally belonged to Mexico. Behind this and all other issues, pertaining to both domestic and foreign policy, stood the moral and practical problem of slavery. Pearino makes clear that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was timed, at least in part, with an eye to gaining political leverage by winning over the shamelessly exploited British working class. After all, a disruption in the supply of cotton would leave many of them unemployed, eventually constituting an explosive political force at odds with the interests of the North. Lincoln was opposed to slavery, but he was not a Radical Republican. He would have accepted the continued existence of slavery in the South if it had been necessary to save the Union.
Whatever his intentions, Pearino skillfully and dramatically shows us that Lincoln, great man that he was, may have been temperamentally ill-suited to be President. Yes, he was cool, lucid, intelligent, and temperate in difficult circumstances, just as an ideal President should be. However, Lincoln agonized throughout the War, horrified at the ease with which the troops of the Confederacy initially routed Federal forces at Bull Run and beyond. The "sleepless nights" he spent anguishing over the best way to forestall the involvement of European powers on the side of the south were not just figures of speech. The frequency with which Lincoln is portrayed as haggard, face deeply lined, eyes sunken more deeply and underlined with dark circles, depict a man in agony. As the War dragged on, his once characteristic moments of levity and good humor were fewer and fewer, and he aged dramatically. Lincoln was not the sort who could shrug off the cares of the day and sleep peacefully through the night. One wonders how long he would have lived if he had not been assassinated.
Lincoln in the World gives us an unexpectedly intimate portrait of the thirteenth President as he wrestled with new and unfamiliar issues, not the sort of things expected of a small town Kentucky lawyer with very limited experience of the world at large. The fact that Lincoln had the intelligence, tact, and good judgment to succeed bespeaks his greatness.
Finally given the unusual way the book is organized, there may be sections of Lincoln in the World which seem too little about Lincoln and too much about associates, such as Seward, and adversaries, such as Lord Palmerston, and even ancillary figures, such as Karl Marx. All told, however, the author ties it all together pretty well in producing a readable and informative book.
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