Sidney Blumenthal Interview: Abraham Lincoln's Election & the Catalyst for Secession

Journalist Sidney Blumenthal discusses the political turmoil of the 1850s, Lincoln’s path to the Republican Party nomination in 1860, his election as a catalyst for secession and The unexpected scope of the Civil War.
Sidney Blumenthal is an American journalist and political operative. He earned a BA in Sociology from Brandeis University in 1969, and began his career in Boston as a journalist who wrote for the Boston Phoenix and the Real Paper. In 1983, Blumenthal became the chief national political correspondent for The New Republic, covering the 1984 Presidential campaign. In 1993, Blumenthal became the chief Washington correspondent for The New Yorker before joining the Clinton Administration in the summer of 1997. He was an aide to President Bill Clinton and confidant of Hillary Clinton and was formerly employed by the Clinton Foundation. As a journalist, Blumenthal is known for his writings about American politics and foreign policy. He is also the author of a multivolume biography of Abraham Lincoln, The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln. Three books of the planned five-volume series have already been published: A Self-Made Man (2017), Wrestling With His Angel (2017), and All the Powers of Earth (2019). Blumenthal has also written for The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and Salon. He is a regular contributor to the openDemocracy website and was formerly a regular columnist for The Guardian.
The Apple TV+ series "Lincoln's Dilemma," features insights from journalists, educators and scholars, as well as rare archival materials, that offer a more nuanced look into the life of the Great Emancipator. Set against the background of the Civil War, "Lincoln's Dilemma" also gives voice to the narratives of enslaved people, shaping a more complete view of an America divided over issues including economy, race and humanity, and underscoring Lincoln's battle to save the country, no matter the cost. The series is narrated by award-winning actor Jeffrey Wright ("Angels in America") and features the voices of actor Bill Camp ("The Night Of") as Lincoln and Leslie Odom Jr. ("Hamilton") as Frederick Douglas.
To view the entire series please visit:
tv.apple.com/us/show/lincolns...
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Sidney Blumenthal, Author, The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln
Interview Date: December 7, 2020
Interviewed by: Jackie Olive and Barak Goodman
© Apple Video Programming, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
#SidneyBlumenthal #kunhardtfilmfoundation

[@uscitizen4172]

I learn from each volume of this series about America’s greatest President!

[@birdsndog5932]

What a remarkable discussion. Whole different set of nuances, new information/considerations. Breathtaking. Could not quit.

[@charlesislaw]

When is Sidney going to finish Lincoln volume 4 biography??? The world is waiting

[@charlesislaw]

Why did Sidney not explain what Charles Sumpter said in "The Crimes Against Kansas" speech that almost got him killed in the Capital Building?

[@thomaswilliams373]

1:23:29 According to Hearndon, the French philosopher Lincoln read is Volney. Volney’s Ruins of Empires (1791) was very popular among abolitionists and anti-slavery activists. Volney argues for the essential equality of all humans in his book. Volney’s Ruins was the source of the information Lincoln used to compose his essay Why Jesus Was Not Divine. What neither Hearndon nor Lincoln knew, was that Thomas Jefferson translated Volney’s Ruins. In effect, Lincoln was reading Volney through the lens of Jefferson. This discovery was made by Gilbert Chinard in 1923.

[@billplunk8532]

where can I obtain an audiobook for his series of books?

[@deliberatedmind]

“A controversial subject”…wow.