Quotes by Harold Holzer

“You dont want to keep a person with her talent in perennial handcuffs. To have someone with her dazzling writing ability turn to Lincoln is a great boon to the Lincoln field.”

“Whenever I read a Lincoln book, I look to see if theres anything new, and in this case there was.”

“There is no precedent for this.”

“We will not be commenting until it has been received and reviewed.”

“We have every confidence that the negotiations are very much on track and that there will be a response from the Met next week. We are on the road toward an agreement.”

“I can confirm that all that is left are the details. The Metropolitan is looking forward to formally consecrating the agreement.”

The author said Frederick Douglass described himself as a graduate of slavery with the marks of his diploma on his back.

Only a writer with Bennetts craft and brass could manage to praise and insult his readers at the same time.

Lincoln on a desire to hear Horace Greeley speak: In print, every one of his words seems to weigh about a ton.

At times, said the founder of the Chicago Tribune, Lincoln seemed to reach into the clouds and take out the thunderbolts.

I have not done enough for effect. Horace Greeley

James Gordon Bennett said he aimed to be, serious in my aims but full of frolic in my means.

Public sentiment is everything, said Lincoln. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

The mid-19th century was noted for a partisan, rather than a consensus press, but this partisanship was able to turn out voters consistently.

Superficial and emotional subject might sway undecided voters.

We need to know not only what is done but what is purposed and said by those who shape the destines of states and realms. Horace Greeley

Lincoln said his spiky hair had a way of getting up in the world.

The press-savy Lincoln looked not to the future, but to the past.

President-elect Lincoln to his confidants: The people of the South do not know us. They are not allowed to receive Republican papers down there.

The author says that though the Mexican War wound down, the interpretation of it was just beginning.