Lincoln Looks West: From the Mississippi to the Pacific

120Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONE”In the preface of Lincoln Looks West, editor Richard Etulain writes, “This volume attempts what no other book has done. . . This book introduces readers to the two decades of Lincoln’s major involvements with the West” (ix). That mission is accomplished. In an introductory essay Etulain presents an extensive overview of Lincoln and the trans-Mississippi West. Seven of the subsequent essays are reprints from a variety of historical journals and cover a wide range of topics. Mark E. Neely (Civil War History, 1978) explores Lincoln’s opposition to the Mex­ican War. Earl S. Pomeroy (Pacific Historical Review, 1943), Vincent G. Tegeder (Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 1948), Daren Earl Kellogg (New Mexico Historical Review, 2000), and Robert W. Johannsen (Wash­ington Comes of Age: The State in the National Experience, 1992) delve into Lincoln’s patronage appointments in the West. Larry Sdiweikart (West­ern Humanities Review, 1980) investigates Lincoln’s connections to the Mormons, and David A. Nichols (The Historian’s Lincoln: Pseudohistory, Psychohistory, and History, 1988) writes about his study of Lincoln and the Indians. Two new essays were written specifically for this volume: Michael G. Green surveys the politics of the 1850s and Lincoln’s atti­tudes toward the West during those years; and Paul M. Zall presents a biographical sketch of Lincoln’s friend Anson G. Henry, a physician and politician whom Zall describes as “Lincoln’s Junkyard Dog.” The book concludes with a bibliographical essay by Etulain and a bibliog­raphy of significant books and articles about Lincoln and the West.

This compilation of essays provides a wide range of topics, brings together a plethora of research, and demonstrates that the West was never far from Lincoln’s mind, although during his presidency the war took his full attention. For those readers not well acquainted with Lincoln and the West, this volume is a great place to start and to dis­cover that there really was a lot happening west of the Mississippi River during and even before the Civil War. ” –Patricia Ann Owens

–Patricia Ann Owens “The Annals of Iowa” (10/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

“This compilation of essays provides a wide range of topics, brings together a plethora of research, and demonstrates that the West was never far from Lincoln’s mind.”–Patricia Ann Owens, The Annals of Iowa

“Readers interested in Lincoln, the United States West, and the intersection of the man and the region from which he hailed will hope, I am sure, for just such a book–and who better than Richard Etulain to write it?”–David A. Johnson, Oregon Historical Quarterly

“Lincoln Looks West [fills] a huge void in the neglected topic of Lincoln and the West. Anyone wanting to know more about Lincoln and the trans-Mississippi region will certainly want this book.”–Jerry Thompson, New Mexico Historical Review

“[T]he contributions in Lincoln Looks West provide the reader with insightful perspectives of the rich and varied terrain of the West as it relates to Lincoln and the dominant issues of the mid-nineteenth-century United States, terrain that merits further attention.”–Bartholomew H. Sparrow, H-CivWar

“This sweeping collection of more than a full generation’s worth of scholarship on the neglected topic of Lincoln and the West fills a huge void in the historical literature. Richard Etulain deserves much credit for assembling in one valuable book the best and the brightest essays on this intriguing subject, adding an important introduction that reflects on–and adds to–the record. Why it took so long to give readers a chance to see the West as this western president saw it is hard to fathom; the good news is that this volume ends a long drought with a flourish.”–Harold Holzer, cochairman, U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

“These nine essays help illuminate an aspect of Lincoln’s career, both presidential and prepresidential, that deserves to be better understood. Students of the sixteenth president’s life and times will welcome this collection as a valuable addition to the literature.”–Michael Burlingame, author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life

“The comprehensive introduction and nine balanced essays mark a pioneer assessment of Lincoln’s relationship to the vast terrain that stretches west from the Mississippi River. Lincoln Looks West belongs in the library of every Lincoln admirer.”–Ferenc Morton Szasz, author of Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns: Connected Lives and Legends

Richard W. Etulain, a professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico, is the author or editor of more than forty books, primarily on the history and culture of the American West. His most recent book is Beyond the Missouri: The Story of the American West. He is a coeditor of the Concise Lincoln Library book series.