Stanford University Press Blog

A Little President's Day Weekend Reading...

 For your holiday weekend enjoyment, acclaimed presidential historian and SUP author of Presidential Prerogative: Imperial Power in an Age of Terrorism, Michael A/ Genovese ponders Lincoln's relevance today as he considers "Lincoln's Warning to a Splintered Nation:"

Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth president, and martyr at the altar of freedom, saved the republic from itself 150 years ago. In the midst of a horrible and costly Civil War, Lincoln not only led the North to victory, he also recast the nation towards a rebirth of freedom and democracy. His message spoke to the nation then, and as we again face a divided and factious nation, it speaks to us now.

 In 1838, at the age of 28, Mr. Lincoln was invited to address the Young Men’s Lyceum, in Springfield, Illinois. The Lyceum in Springfield was but one of many such voluntary local societies aimed at promoting public education and political learning. The Lyceum would invite prominent members of the community to publicly address the pressing issues of the day.  
At the time, Abe Lincoln was unmarried, had been admitted to the bar a mere 16 months earlier, and although he lived in Springfield for less than a year, had already been twice elected to the Illinois state legislature, and was recognized as a rising star in the Whig party.

 Lincoln’s speech was entitled, “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions,” (the full text of the lecture would be published in the Sangamo Journal a week later). The speech was delivered at a time when the nation was deeply divided over the question of slavery, with the seeds of a splintering country planted deeply in the soil of America.

In his lecture, Lincoln paid tribute to the debt owed to the founding generation. They had bequeathed to us, he said, the blessing of “a political edifice of liberty and equal rights.” It was the duty of all Americans to protect these blessings and transmit them to the subsequent generations. How, he asked, can we can we do this in light of the imminent threats facing the nation?

What dangers? Lincoln warned against domestic dangers that threatened to tear the nation apart. He painted a harrowing portrait of spreading violence, disregard for the rule of law, and “savage mobs” undermining stability and threatening liberty. If this continued, the people’s faith in the government’s ability to promote order would dissipate, and the stage would be set for the rise of a tyrant, a man who “thirsts and burns for distinction.” Such a tyrant would most certainly destroy democracy and undermine liberty.

The remedy? The antidote to this crushing disorder rested in strengthening the public’s attachment to government. By this he meant that the people must recommit to upholding the rule of law, emulate the greatness of the founding generation, and by “every American mother,” schools, writers of textbooks, teachers and preachers, legislators and judges educating the public in our national values.To what end? Lincoln wanted reverence for the rule of law to become “the political religion of the nation.” So high were the stakes, so serious the danger, that Lincoln believed that if we failed in this task we would “die by suicide.”

History has anointed the Lyceum lecture as Lincoln’s “first speech of distinction,” and as Angela G. Ray of Northwestern University pointed out in a recent edition of the journal Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Americans have returned to this speech “again and again” for meaning, guidance, and identity.

And so we return to it today as our nation recovers from the third consecutive “angry voter” election, where we lurch left and right, where the ins are thrown out, the outs in, then these new ins, out again. Viral anger directed at the government oozes from the pores of Tea Party screamers, just as it did a few years earlier from the left, directed at the Bush administration’s wars and failures. We are an angry people, and we are angry at our own government, the government(s) of our own making.

And today, as has been the case so many times in our history, we return to the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln to instruct us in these difficult times. Lincoln saw the danger to America as a threat coming from within; we were self-destructing and might commit political suicide. We had lost our moorings, misunderstood the genius of the founders, and abandoned their cause. Might the same diagnosis be true today?

 We claim to love America yet hate so many fellow Americans. We yell and scream, divide and destroy, revel in slash and burn politics, pose and posture, shout angry epithets at those with whom we disagree, spread hatred, and substitute name-calling for dialogue and debate. America is broken.

And what of Lincoln’s fear that in uneasy, uncivil times, a tyrant may march forth promising to save us? Do we run the risk of giving ourselves to a demagogue riding in a wave of mass resentment, exploiting that resentment, and claiming that only he – or she – can save us?

Anger leads to irrationality. Hatred overwhelms reason. The door is opening for a knight in shining armor to ride in with promises of salvation. Will we succumb?

            Today we hunger for another Lincoln. Yet, this is precisely what Lincoln warned us to avoid. To succeed, a democracy requires a bit of Lincoln in all of us.

And what of Lincoln’s answer? Can a recommitment to the rule of law, a reconnection to the genius of the founders, and a rebirth of civic education protect that which we say we value? Can it save us? Only we can save ourselves.

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Michael A. Genovese holds the Loyola Chair of Leadership at Loyola Marymount University. He is the author of thirty books, most recently Presidential Prerogative, published by Stanford University.

Some Lunar/Lunisolar New Year Reading

February 3 marks the New Year for China, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Tibet, in honor of which Stanford University Press is having a sale on select items from our distinguished Asian Studies list.

Some highlights:  You can’t read a newspaper these days without some mention of China, and for good reason. The economy continues to grow, and along with it an ever-expanding gap between the rich and poor. At some point, will China’s citizens say they’ve had enough? In Accepting Authoritarianism and MYTH OF THE SOCIAL VOLCANO, SUP authors Teresa Wright and Martin King Whyte demonstrate why social upheaval isn’t imminent. But that’s not to say that the Chinese, both urban and rural, are content with the status quo, as Yongshun Cai explores in COLLECTIVE RESISTANCE IN CHINA: Why Popular Protests Succeed or Fail. For those less interested in what happens next, and perhaps a bit nostalgic for last year’s World Expo, Marie Claire Bergere’s SHANGHAI: China's Gateway to Modernityprovides readers with a witty and wonderful stroll through the cosmopolitan city’s history. Our limitless books on China give a glimpse –and in many cases, a deep dive – into the myriad issues that make China a country we’ll continue to watch.

With the ongoing North Korean threat, the alliance between the United State and South Korea is more critical than ever. But key differences in the ways each country views the partnership threaten to destabilize it. In ONE ALLIANCE, TWO LENSES: U.S.-Korea Relations in a New EraGi-Wook Shin explores this important bilateral relationship and how to strengthen it.

Two decades ago, Vietnam made the transition to a market economy, which wrought changes at all levels of society. While many Americans think of Vietnam first and foremost as where they’d like to vacation next, some of the most interesting changes taking place are not happening in its hospitality industry, but among its families. RECONFIGURING FAMILIES IN CONTEMPORARY VIETNAMtakes readers into the lives of Vietnamese men and women as they negotiate new challenges of work, HIV/AIDS, reproductive policies, and more.

Be sure to check out our website for more titles: http://www.sup.org/lunarnewyear/.  Sale end February 10, 2011.

Further Background Reading on Egypt: Let's Dig a Little Deeper

One reason Egypt's uprising seems to have taken most of the world by surprise is the lack of any major political unrest in the last 30 years.  For a deeper understanding of the long history of authoritarian rule in the Middle East, turn to Debating Arab Authoritarianism: Dynamics and Durability in Nondemocratic Regimes, which includes essays that consider the ongoing political dynamics and the region and show how Arab regimes have retained their power despite ongoing transformations in societal, political, and economic spheres.

Another surprising factor is the apparent absence of any one leader of the protests.  Instead, the focus has largely been on Egypt's middle class youth (60% of Egypt's population is under 30).  Frances Hasso explores the growing frustration of Egypt's young people, many of whom are unemployed or underemployed and thus unable to marry or start a family, in Consuming Desires: Family Crisis and the State in the Middle East 

Finally, later this spring Joel Beinin and Frederic Vairel examine social movements, political opportunity, and collective action in their forthcoming book, Social Movements, Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa.  For a look at how precisely these social movements have influence the current uprising, see Joel Beinin's Egypt at the Tipping Point?  in a January 31, 2011 posting on Foreign Policy's "Middle East Channel."