Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum News


	For Immediate Release: November 3, 2006	Contact: Jill Burwitz (ALPLM) (217) 558-8970 office (217) 299-6165 cell
	Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum to host author Douglas Wilson Wilson to discuss latest book followed by book signing Springfield, Ill. On Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 7:00 p.m., author Douglas Wilson will discuss his latest book Lincoln's Sword, in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum's Union Theater. A book signing in the Museum Store will immediately follow his presentation. Douglas Wilson's Lincoln's Sword tells the story of how Lincoln developed his writing skills, how they served him for a time as a hidden presidential asset, how it gradually became clear that he possessed a formidable literary talent, and it reveals how writing came to play an increasingly important role in his presidency. "By the time he came to write the Gettysburg Address," Wilson says, "Lincoln was attempting to help put the horrific carnage of the Civil War in a positive light, and at the same time to do it in a way that would have constructive implications for the future. By the time he came to write the Second Inaugural Address, fifteen months later, he was quite consciously in the business of interpreting the war and its deeper meaning, not just for his contemporaries but for what he elsewhere called the 'vast future.'" Wilson has taught English and American Literature at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, for 33 years, where he also served for an extended period as Director of the Knox Library, and was a founder of an interdisciplinary American Studies program. His work on Abraham Lincoln has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, American Heritage, and Time, as well as other magazines and scholarly journals, and has resulted in four books: Lincoln Before Washington: New Perspectives on the Illinois Years (University of Illinois Press, 1997), Herndon's Informants: Letters and Interviews about Abraham Lincoln (edited with Rodney O. Davis, University of Illinois Press, 1998), Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998) — which was awarded the Lincoln Prize for 1999, and Herndon's Lincoln (edited with Rodney O. Davis, University of Illinois Press, 2006). Mr. Wilson is currently co-director, with Rodney O. Davis, of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College. Admission to the program is free, but reservations are advised. To reserve seats, call (217) 558-8881. Wilson's Lincoln's Sword, is available for sale in the Museum Store. ###