The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

This 14 disc set includes the texts as transcribed by newspaper reporters, with introductions and occasional interjections by the audience. Allen Guelzo, who introduces the debates, does not sound like a college professor who happened to write a very fine book on the debates, but as another professionally trained voice. His spoken introduction is valuable for setting the context, but his book Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America (Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library) is even better. A little reading ahead of time will help you with the Lecompton constitution, Douglas and Buchanan's conflicted relationship, and Lincoln's reading of the combined effects of Dred Scott and the Fugitive Slave Law. Richard Dreyfuss gives Judge Douglas a fair reading and then some. In the later debates, under the stress of travel and frequent speaking and the shock of seeing how effective Lincoln's rhetoric had been, Douglas took to the bottle. Eyewitness accounts report slurred speech and mumbled references to his opponent as "Misha Linka." Here, Dreyfuss is clear and persuasive in each debate. He makes sure you know the overriding importance of popular sovereignty as a way of settling regional political disputes. David Strathairn is a superb actor, but here his tendency to swallow the last syllable or two of each line is distracting, and hence my reason for 4 rather than 5 stars. Otherwise, his Lincoln is the epitome of Midwestern common sense, and like Lincoln himself, his speech takes on more power as we enter the decisive sixth and seventh debates at Quincy and Alton. Their discussions about "Negro equality" often sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to a 21st century listener. But when Lincoln finally moves the plane of discussion to the question of slavery's moral status, rather than just one more policy issue the people are entitled to decide through their representatives, you can see how Lincoln came to appeal to so many in the North beyond the hearing range of these debates in Illinois.

The Dreyfuss - Strathairn recording of these monumental historical debates helped me to appreciate the magnificent intellect of both Lincoln and Douglas, while almost squirming from both of their attitudes regarding slavery. Anyone who has an appreciation of history or politics simply must listen to this recording. It is one of the best you will ever hear.

This is a great historical resource. I found it to be a great source for insight into the man and the beliefs of Abraham Lincoln. I highly recommend this book.

I have started reading & relaying information to reinactments I have on tape. Really accurate so far. Worth the buy.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates have justly been celebrated in American history as one of the milestones in Abraham Lincoln's rise to the presidency. However, Lincoln's own well-meaning assembling of the received text of these debates used only transcripts from papers friendly to either candidate--transcripts which, Harold Holzer argues, were smoothed over and revised by reporters eager to make "their" candidate look good. Holzer insists that we must go to the transcripts of Lincoln's speeches by the pro-Douglas paper, and vice-versa, to get a true sense of what was said off the cuff by the debaters. His edition portrays vividly not only the high-sounding rhetoric of Douglas and the noble ideals of Lincoln, but also the hesitations and mis-speakings of both men. In this way, the reader gets a better sense of what it was like to be in the crowd listening as history was being made