Brought Forth on This Continent

Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration

By: Harold Holzer

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

From acclaimed Abraham Lincoln historian Harold Holzer, a groundbreaking account of Lincoln’s grappling with the politics of immigration against the backdrop of the Civil War.

In the three decades before the Civil War, some ten million foreign-born people settled in the United States, forever altering the nation’s demographics, culture, and—perhaps most significantly—voting patterns. America’s newest residents fueled the national economy, but they also wrought enormous changes in the political landscape and exposed an ugly, at times violent, vein of nativist bigotry.

Abraham Lincoln’s rise ran parallel to this turmoil; even Lincoln himself did not always rise above it. Tensions over immigration would split and ultimately destroy Lincoln’s Whig Party years before the Civil War. Yet the war made clear just how important immigrants were, and how interwoven they had become in American society.

Harold Holzer, winner of the Lincoln Prize, charts Lincoln’s political career through the lens of immigration, from his role as a member of an increasingly nativist political party to his evolution into an immigration champion, a progression that would come at the same time as he refined his views on abolition and Black citizenship. As Holzer writes, “The Civil War could not have been won without Lincoln’s leadership; but it could not have been fought without the immigrant soldiers who served and, by the tens of thousands, died that the ‘nation might live.’” An utterly captivating and illuminating work, Brought Forth on This Continent assesses Lincoln's life and legacy in a wholly original way, unveiling remarkable similarities between the nineteenth century and the twenty-first.

©2024 Harold Holzer (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"As a brilliant historian with a keen sense of the passions and problems of our own time, Harold Holzer has given us a powerful and illuminating study of Abraham Lincoln and immigration—an issue of perennial significance. Like Lincoln himself, Holzer’s new book is at once timely and timeless.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and author of the New York Times bestseller And There Was Light

"Harold Holzer has unwrapped yet another profoundly meaningful gift from Abraham Lincoln, as he has delved into Lincoln’s evolving views on immigration that reveal his unwavering moral character, as well as his pragmatism and enduring optimism for the United States. This deeply researched and beautifully written book not only breaks new ground, but the revelations come at a pivotal moment in American history when we must strive, like Lincoln, for a better future for Americans regardless of their race, religion or national origin.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize winner and Lincoln Prize-winning author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

“In the 1850s, the issue of immigration proved as divisive in American politics as the issue of slavery. Many historians have written about Lincoln's role in the latter controversy, but Harold Holzer is one of the few who has wielded his golden pen in treatment of the former, in this splendid book that also analyzes the Union president's vital role in mobilizing the foreign-born population to help win the Civil War.”—James M. McPherson, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era and winner of the Lincoln Prize

Superb study of Abraham Lincoln and American Imigr

Harold Holzer has given us a superb book on Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration. Mark Bramhall's wonderful narration brings alive the many characters in this story.

Lincoln secretly co-owned a newspaper to propagandize German immigrants

Great book revealing much about how immigrants were used by Lincoln to achieve his twisted agenda.

Great Narration

Excellent Narration and detail, sometimes too much about the various characters. Lincoln's life beautifully played out from beginning to end.

Enjoyable perspective

Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln & American Immigration

By Harold Holzer

This was an interesting read. Holzer never disappoints.

There are few of the events covered in the book that I was not already familiar with, best example being the New York riots involving draft of immigrants.

I only point that out to say Holzer’s description of a unique point of view, all events seen as they relate specifically to immigration and its impact on the nation, is fascinating.

I was wary of this book being an apologist tome related to modern immigration issues. I was relieved to find, at least for me, it was not. Any parallels are left for the reader to determine, as they should be.

I enjoyed the book.