Stanton

Lincoln's War Secretary

De: Walter Stahr

Narrado por: George Guidall

Walter Stahr, award-winning author of the New York Times best seller Seward, tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's indispensable secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, the man the president entrusted with raising the army that preserved the Union.

Of the crucial men close to President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (1814-1869) was the most powerful and controversial. Stanton raised, armed, and supervised the army of a million men who won the Civil War. He organized the war effort. He directed military movements from his telegraph office, where Lincoln literally hung out with him. He arrested and imprisoned thousands for "war crimes" such as resisting the draft or calling for an armistice. Stanton was so controversial that some accused him at that time of complicity in Lincoln's assassination. He was a stubborn genius who was both reviled and revered in his time.

Stanton was a Democrat before the war and a prominent trial lawyer. He opposed slavery but only in private. He served briefly as President Buchanan's attorney general and then as Lincoln's aggressive secretary of war. On the night of April 14, 1865, Stanton rushed to Lincoln's deathbed and took over the government since Secretary of State William Seward had been critically wounded the same evening. He informed the nation of the president's death, summoned General Grant to protect the Capitol, and started collecting the evidence from those who had been with the Lincolns at the theater in order to prepare a murder trial.

Now, with this worthy complement to the enduring library of biographical accounts of those who helped Lincoln preserve the Union, Stanton honors the indispensable partner of the 16th president. Walter Stahr's essential book is the first major biography of Stanton in 50 years, restoring this underexplored figure to his proper place in American history.

©2017 Walter Stahr (P)2017 Recorded Books

War Secretary to Lincoln

This book is a well convening life of Lincoln War department and the story was very detailed.

A mystery

Granted that the fine line between good and evil cut deep into Stanton, but it’s a mystery to this Lincoln admirer why Stanton has not figured more prominently in the popular Lincoln biographies. Judging from the metric of actual time spent working together on the war, no one in Lincoln’s cabinet was more instrumental in helping Lincoln win the war. It is evident that Stanton was Lincoln’s“bad cop,” and probably serves to deflect criticism that could have been directed towards Lincoln. The net result is that Stanton is under recognized.

Great Balance

Provides a great evaluation of the greatness and limitations of Stanton; who served under three different presidents.

Stanton

This helped me better understand the Civil War era. Lincoln's cabinet members were important.

Great biography on one the most important people of the civil war

With the exception of Lincoln and Grant you can say Edwin Stanton was the most important figure in leading the Union to victory in the civil war. Lincoln great secretary of war. Book goes from his early days as a lawyer in Ohio to secretary of war severing under Lincoln to his disagreements with Andrew Johnson. Great biography on this key person in American history.

A bad narrator can ruin a good book

Terrible monotone narrator of an otherwise decent book; hate to say I'd buy or avoid a book on its narrator but I will in the future