Lincoln Unbound How An Ambitious Young Railsplitter Saved The American Dream And How We Can Do It Again

the long version

Revered today across the political spectrum, Abraham Lincoln believed in a small but active government in a nation defined by aspiration. He embraced the market and the transportation and communications revolutions beginning to take hold, and helped give birth to the modern industrial economy. Lincoln's vision of an upwardly mobile society that rewards and supports individual striving was wondrously realized. Now, it is under threat. Economic stagnation and social breakdown are undermining that mobility. To meet these challenges, conservative columnist Rich Lowry draws us back to the lessons of Lincoln. It is imperative, he argues, to preserve a fluid economy and the bourgeois virtues that make it possible for individuals to thrive within it.--From publisher description.