The Soul of America

The reassuring long view: the country has faced its fears before, and its better angels have, more often than not, prevailed in the end. Meacham surveys the recurring American struggle between hope and fear, and argues that the present trial, however sharp, has precedents that were survived. The book is a steadying hand on the shoulder of a worried public. Read it not for comfort that nothing is wrong, but for the reminder that the work has been done before, and can be again.

A presidential biographer and historian who writes the reassuring long view: that the country has faced its fears before and found its better angels. The Soul of America surveys the recurring struggle between hope and fear in the national life. And There Was Light reads the moral development of Abraham Lincoln. He writes to remind a worried public that the present trial has precedents, and that they were survived.