 |
Summers with Lincoln Looking for the Man in the Monuments James A. Percoco, Foreword by Harold Holzer $60.00
 |
||
|
“A unique and inspiring story . . . part
iconographical history and part travelogue; it
allows modern readers again to understand—to
feel—the power of these silent monuments.”
—from the foreword by Harold Holzer,
author of Lincoln at Cooper Union,
and winner of the Lincoln Prize
"One of the finest examples the nation has of a history teacher."
"This splendid evocation of Lincoln's image in sculpture combines poetic description, human-interest anecdotes, and incisive analysis.
James Percoco shows how the different styles of public art shed light on the changing memories of our greatest president. Each chapter alone is
worth the price of this book."
"Reminds us how artistic interpretations—even of dated, monumental sculptures of one imperfect, though persevering and empathetic, man—can enrich and inspire us to realize our own human potential."
“Join master teach James A. Percoco on his pilgrimage throughout the Lincoln landscape. Inspired by Clio, the muse of history, Percoco ponders the ongoing meaning of Lincoln with his thoughtful meditations on public sculptures.”
"Percoco is the ideal tourguide. He knows the history behind the Lincoln monuments, but he appreciates their artistry and symbolism as well. And he's a terrific teacher–lively, engaged, as enthusiastic about his subject as he is about his students."—James Oakes, author of The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Anti-Slavery Politics of America
"Summers with Lincoln represents a major new contribution to the study of public memory. With this book, Jim Percoco demonstrates that he is not just a great teacher, but also a careful Lincoln scholar and a thoughtful, often quite eloquent critic."—Matthew Pinsker
"In this extraordinary new book, James Percoco has not only given us a fine piece of scholarship on one of America's greatest presidents, he has also mapped out a fascinating journey through the landscape of the nation's history. Summers with Lincoln is a book that will enliven any discussion of American history and culture. It also provides an exciting basis for an educational vacation through some of our nation's most important historical landmarks."—James O. Horton, George Washington University and The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
"Short of the life-changing experience of being in Jim Percoco's class and traveling across the US searching for Lincoln statues, reading about the sculptors and their benefactors moves us closer to a real appreciation of the man and the myth. We understand why Lincoln captivates our public memory despite our changing moods and values. Percoco verifies, in a most original manner, that Lincoln belongs to the ages and to all of us. "—Eileen R. Mackevich, Executive Director, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
"Summers with Lincoln: Looking for the Man in the Monuments combines Jim Percoco's deep knowledge of Lincoln and his summer visits to various Lincoln monuments with the author's personal experiences with his students. The result is a uniquely engaging and informative contribution to our understanding of Lincoln and his memory. Surely our 16th president would have applauded Percoco's commitment to his students and his energetic and ambitious efforts to bring Lincoln's past alive for himself and those lucky enough to study with him."—Jean Baker, Goucher College
"Jim Percoco is a wonderful teacher, a fine writer, and just the right person to take readers with him during his Summers with Lincoln. If
someday we find a way to clone the Jim Percoco's of the world, no more ink need be used in lamenting the state of history teaching in the
United States."—Ed Linenthal, Journal of American History and author of Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields
"Readers of James Percoco's breezy, informative, and entertaining examination of seven prominent Lincoln monuments may find the author's enthusiasm for his subject so contagious that they will feel an irresistible urge to leap from their chairs and rush to Washington, Chicago, Cincinnati, Newark, and Fort Wayne. This book reminds us that the recent controversy touched off by the misbegotten Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield has some notable precedents."
"In his roving outdoor classroom, Percoco deftly guides his students between past and present. His colorful narrative brings alive monuments of Lincoln and reminds us that looking at public sculpture is a rewarding participatory act. Through the lens of these sculptures, Percoco unravels Lincoln the myth, reconciling it with Lincoln the man."—Thayer Tolles, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
"James Percoco’s Summers With Lincoln is pure pleasure. Part Lincoln biography, part cultural exploration, this one exceptional teacher’s journey to discover the historical and the iconographic Lincoln takes us all on a wonderful tour of quintessential American monuments. How, Percoco asks, have Americans publicly remembered, celebrated, and memorialized Lincoln since the day he was assassinated? Confronted by a variety of Lincolns–the statesman, the frontiersman, the Emancipator, the demi-god, and the modern American man-Percoco explores the many memorials that communities have created to remind us to remember Lincoln and his contributions to this nation. With Percoco as our insightful guide, we travel through Washington, D.C., Fort Wayne, Indiana, Newark, New Jersey, and other cities, where we meet Percoco’s students, Lincoln impersonators, and even a Chinese tourist who passionately admires Lincoln as a true man of the people. This is a fun and enjoyable way to learn about Lincoln, the interesting artists who created these public works of art, and most importantly, what we as Americans honor and value in our beloved historical icons."–Kate Clifford Larson, author of The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln (forthcoming 2008), and Bound For the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero
"As James A. Percoco demonstrates in his delightful Summers with Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln monuments have become traditional. Tradition is something permanent that reminds the public of something notable. The Lincoln sculptures visited by the author, give meaning to life by providing our communities a way to communicate their traditions and beliefs from generation to generation. The author tells us how these statues represent Lincoln's lasting ideas that commemorate those principles we preserve, honor and cherish."—Frank J. Williams, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island and founding Chair of The Lincoln Forum
"Percoco's Summers with Lincoln will be amaze readers and inspire teachers."
"This thoughtful, perceptive book reminds us that silent places-modest buildings and simple statues as well as noble memorials-often speak loudest in linking us with our past. These embodiments of our shared national memory are worthy of our deepest respect and our most determined preservation efforts."–Richard Moe, President, National Trust for Historic Preservation
"In Summers with Lincoln: The Man Behind the Monuments, James A. Percoco intrepidly explores the past to share the history of how seven of these monuments came to be, what they meant to their sculptors and the public at their unveilings and what they mean to us today."—The Washington Times
A few years ago, anticipating the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 2009, Jim Percoco, a history
teacher with a passion for both Lincoln and public sculpture, set off to see what he might learn
about some of these monuments—what they meant when they were unveiled, and what they
mean to us today. The result is this captivating book, a fascinating chronicle of four summers on
the road looking for Lincoln stories in statues of marble and bronze.
Of all the monuments, Percoco selects seven emblematic ones. He begins and ends the journey
in Washington, starting with Thomas Ball’s Emancipation Group, erected east of the Capitol in
1876 with private funds from African Americans, and dedicated by Frederick Douglass. Here,
Percoco and his multi-ethnic band of teenage historians explore the impact of this Freedman’s
Monument showing Lincoln and a kneeling freed bondsperson. What does the statute say about
race and freedom to today’s Americans? What did Ball—and his sponsors—want it to say?
From Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s majestic Standing Lincoln of 1887 in Chicago, which helped move
our image of Lincoln from great emancipator to that of statesman to Paul Manship’s 1932
Lincoln the Hoosier Youth, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which glows with an art deco sleekness,
Percoco mines a wealth of Lincoln legacies—and our reactions to them expressed across
generations. Here are controversial gems like Barnard’s 1917 tribute in Cincinnati and
Borglum’s Seated Lincoln, struggling with the pain of leadership, beckoning visitors to sit
next to him on his metal bench in Newark, New Jersey.
At each stop, Percoco chronicles the history of each monument, spotlighting its artistic, social,
political, and cultural origins. His descriptions of works so often seen as clichés tease fresh
meaning from mute stone and cold metal—raising provocative questions not just about who
Lincoln might have been, but also about what we’ve wanted him to be in the monuments
we’ve built.
| |||
| Related Links: www.jamespercoco.com Washington Post Article, 2/2/09 |
<< See other titles in the "History" category
Subscribe to Blog
Facebook
Twitter
