Winning the Heart of America: Abraham Lincoln Takes a Hand in the American War of Civility

Winning the Heart of America portrays young Abe Lincoln practicing hospitality in school, greeting neighbors on the farm, and enjoying conviviality at meeting. As a boy, he learned inclusive democracy; and with his natural kindness, he greeted everyone equally. In the crisis over slavery during the 1850's, he called all Americans "whose hearts are in the work" to unite the house divided. During the Civil War, President Lincoln received people of all classes in the White House, from the home-spun to the sophisticate. This book tells all these stories that stitch together Americans' experience of Lincoln's inclusive humanity.

The seeds of American democracy were nurtured in Europe before being transplanted to American shores. Winning the Heart of America explains this history as it culminates in Lincoln's heart of gold. This history makes that gold shine brightly.

In explaining that heart and the stories that his friends and his enemies tell about it, the book writes its biography. This heart beat especially with the pulse of those suffering or gaining a bare living by the labor of their hands. It reached out to them-and all others-with country-bred hospitality. Long before the Civil War, country-bred hearts were fighting a war of civility with high-falutin' conservatives. Lincoln's battle marked a significant period in American history. From it, he emerges as our beloved Uncle Abe.