A Lincoln book that says something new is a rarity. Conversations with Lincoln is just such a book. In it Charles M. Segal has collected and presented more than one hundred interviews with Lincoln as President-elect and President. As a revelation of the intimate, human side of Abraham Lincoln, it will be a source of endless fascination to every reader interested in the Civil War era. This is a wide-ranging and engaging volume. The conversations collected here (between 1860 and 1865) range from brief remarks to extended discussions. Mr. Segal introduces each interview and the personalities involved. The collection is arranged chronologically, giving a rich picture of the Lincoln presidency. Charles M. Segal was born in Montreal, attended college there, and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He holds degrees from Skidmore College and Union College. After World War II, he became a reporter and a foreign correspondent for a number of papers in Canada and the United States. After settling in the U.S., he began his serious study of Lincoln and the Civil War. David Donald is Charles Warren Professor of American History Emeritus at Harvard University

本書は「偉人」の虚飾を剥ぎ取り、一人の人間としてのリンカーンの息遣いを鮮烈に蘇らせる傑作です。百余の対話からは、国家の命運を背負う重圧と、その裏にあるユーモアや孤独な苦悩が、生々しい肉声となって溢れ出します。読者は、激動の南北戦争期を駆け抜けた彼の魂の変遷を、至近距離で目撃することになるでしょう。 言葉の端々に宿る「人間性の深淵」こそが本書の魅力です。時系列に並べられた対話は、極限状態に置かれた指導者の精神史を描き出す壮大な叙事詩に他なりません。公式演説にはない彼の柔らかな内面に触れるとき、歴史の厚みと不屈の精神が放つ輝きに、読者の心は激しく揺さぶられるはずです。