House Dividing

<p><em>A House Dividing: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858</em> updates the Lincoln-Douglas debates for the sound-bite era. Instead of 100000 words this volume in the<strong> Dialogues in History </strong>series gives students 20000 words from the debates. Rather than long uncontested ramblings it offers rapid-fire accusations and responses. Despite their reputations as intellectual heavyweights Lincoln and Douglas were not above mudslinging; their arguments prove surprisingly studded with ad hominem attacks political grandstanding and gross appeals to the candidates' respective bases.</p><p>Historians generally agree on Civil War causality: a disagreement over the right of slaveholding in the territories caused secession; a disagreement over the right of secession caused the Civil War. <em>A House Dividing</em> places these political disagreements at the center of the narrative. Watching the cut-and-thrust of past political theater draws students into discussions of the continued importance of the political process as the place where the national agenda is set and executed.</p>