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Lincoln's Greatest Case: The River, The Bridge, and The Making of America Audiobook
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Lincoln scholar Brian McGinty paints history on a grand scale as he re-creates a legal case that changed the face of a nation. Before becoming president, Abraham Lincoln successfully argued a trial pitting railroad vs. steamboat. In the course of this untold story, listeners follow the creation of a transnational railroad while witnessing the future president's ascension to the national stage.
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“A lively account of this navigational dispute and its central role in America’s economic and political development… Lincoln’s Greatest Case convincingly shows that 1857 was a watershed year for the moral and political questions surrounding slavery’s expansion to the west…The book is also a case study of discomfort with new technology—and the futility of using a tort suit to prevent the adoption of inevitable innovation.”
— Wall Street Journal
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“Sometimes, while the future seems to lie in the establishment of invisible connections, it can be rewarding to look to the past, when it was infrastructure that held the promise of unity. McGinty enlivens this history of pre–Civil War America.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“McGinty makes good on his promise to articulate why a now obscure 1857 trial had much broader significance than one would expect of a legal battle over transportation…A masterful popular history that places its focal point in a richly detailed wider context and will get readers interested in Lincoln’s legal career.”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review -
“McGinty provides valuable context unavailable anywhere else and a deep understanding of the dynamic and contested legal, commercial, and political world that informed Lincoln’s support for westward expansion and economic development, shaped his ideas on law, and honed his skills as a lawyer. McGinty’s book gives us the best accounting of Lincoln, the lawyer, to date. Highly recommended.”
— Library Journal, starred review) -
“A fascinating study of the case that capped Lincoln’s career as a lawyer and fostered the creation of the vast railroad network that would bind the nation together.”
— Richard Slotkin, author of The Long Road to Antietam
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About Brian McGinty
Brian McGinty is an attorney and writer who specializes in American history and law. His previous books include Lincoln and the Court, The Body of John Merryman: Abraham Lincoln and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus, and John Brown’s Trial. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
About Richard Poe
Richard Poe, a professional actor for more than thirty years, has appeared in numerous Broadway shows, including 1776 and M. Butterfly. On television he has had recurring roles on Star Trek and Frasier. His films include Born on the Fourth of July and Presumed Innocent. Poe is a well-known and prolific audiobook performer and the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards.