Lincoln: The Ambiguous Icon

The judgment that Abraham Lincoln is the finest president in the history of the United States borders on self-evident. American identification with Lincoln comes easily, too easily in fact. He seems to be all things to all people, defying the very possibility of a more critical understanding or appreciation, one that does not work, explicitly or implicitly, within the taken-for-granted frame of his greatness, as even most political theorists do.
This raises questions: of what more precisely does Lincoln's ambiguity consist? What does it signify and how does it function in American politics? Why do so many eagerly embrace Lincoln to aid them in their cause, whatever cause it might happen to be?
In this book, political theorist Steve Johnston explores Lincoln's thought and political philosophy, but also his intentional and shrewdly calculated ambiguity - enabling him to be maximally politically effective in the face of unprecedented challenges. The book also explores the many manifestations of Lincoln in American politics and culture, including Lincoln on film, and Lincoln in marble and stone, from the Mall on Washington, D.C. to the hundreds of statues of Lincoln across the country erected to honor this universally revered, but only marginally understood American leader.