Crisis of the House Divided

An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 50th Anniversary Edition

Harry V. Jaffa

Harry V. Jaffa

With an Introduction to the 50th Anniversary Edition
472 pages | 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 | © 1959, 1982, 2009
Paper $24.00 ISBN: 9780226391182 Published April 2009

Crisis of the House Divided is the standard historiography of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Harry Jaffa provides the definitive analysis of the political principles that guided Lincoln from his reentry into politics in 1854 through his Senate campaign against Douglas in 1858. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the original publication, Jaffa has provided a new introduction.

"Crisis of the House Divided has shaped the thought of a generation of Abraham Lincoln and Civil War scholars."—Mark E. Needly, Jr., Civil War History

"An important book about one of the great episodes in the history of the sectional controversy. It breaks new ground and opens a new view of Lincoln's significance as a political thinker."—T. Harry Williams, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences

"A searching and provocative analysis of the issues confronted and the ideas expounded in the great debates. . . . A book which displays such learning and insight that it cannot fail to excite the admiration even of scholars who disagree with its major arguments and conclusions."—D. E. Fehrenbacher, American Historical Review

Forbes

“Four hundred pages of close textual analysis, biography and political philosophy, the book transformed the scholarly understanding of Lincoln, placing the prairie lawyer on a level with Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, and the other founders.”

Andrew Ferguson
"A book that will never die--a genuine landmark in American thought. It's the greatest Lincoln book ever. No foolin'."
National Review
"One of the most influential works of American history and political philosophy ever published."
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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