Good Reads: And There Was Light: "Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle"

Occasionally, I will share about what I've been reading. For April 11 to 24, 2025, I read this book. If you're so moved, read on.

And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham

Non-Fiction, Biography, History

In his sermon on the mount, Jesus said (as recorded in Matthew 6), "you cannot serve both God and mammon." Throughout the ages, this truth has cut to the heart of so much about our social, political, and cultural struggles. In mid-19th century America, this eternal struggle was on full — and brutally harsh — display. 

In his book And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, Pulitzer Prize-winner Jon Meacham writes of the life and times of our 16th president and the issue of slavery that permeated every aspect of American life in the era (and, in reality, has in every era since our founding). 

Meacham's beautifully written book explores a man — Abraham Lincoln — and not just a myth or a legend. He also traces Lincoln's ever-evolving path toward being, ultimately, the most significant figure of the nineteenth century — if not all of American history.

I can't possibly say much about this book that Meacham's words can't convey on their own. Below are quotes from the book which leaped off the page to me.

WHO LINCOLN WAS:

"Lincoln was not all he might have been — vanishingly few human beings are — but he was more than many men have been. We could have done worse. And we have. And, as Lincoln himself would readily acknowledge, we can always do better. In that cause, we must try to see Abraham Lincoln — and ourselves — whole." (Prologue xxxvii)

RACISM:

"That he did not seek political or social equality between whites and Blacks, and his occasional use of the N-word including in the debates with Douglas, raise difficult questions about Lincoln's own views on race. However deep his antislavery commitment, he was a white man in a white-dominated nation shaped by anti-Black prejudice that he to some extent shared. As his defenders have noted. Lincoln had respectful dealings with free Black people in Springfield, including representing Black clients, and he would welcome Black callers to the White House - details that suggest more of an egalitarian attitude than many of his white contemporaries shared." (p. 164-165)

DIFFERING REALITIES:

"He was seeking the presidency of a country riven not only by competing interests but by incompatible understandings of reality. Lincoln saw democracy as an essential good; his foes saw it as a threat to an aristocracy of power. Lincoln saw slavery as an evil to be eradicated; his foes saw it as a necessary and divinely ordained fact of life. To defend that aristocracy, and that fact of life, those foes of the Republican rail-splitter of Illinois had gathered in Charleston, South Carolina, to marshal their forces, and to take their stand." (p. 187)

SLAVERY AND THE SOUTH:

"To question slavery was to question the white South's values, faith, and intelligence — and such questions solicited not thoughtful replies but raw anger. For slavery was not incidental to the white Southern way of life, it was essential to white Southern power in terms of creating wealth, of maintaining white hegemony, and of holding sway in national politics. Limit slavery and you limited the reach of white Southerners; allow freedom to grow in the West and you put slavery in danger where it existed. When everything was at stake, nothing could be conceded." (p. 191)

RELIGION:

"A true portrait of Lincoln as president must include our best — if necessarily imperfect and incomplete — effort to capture how he understood the concepts of God and Providence. For if we take him at his word — and we should, for few presidents chose his words with more care — the mature Lincoln viewed the history of the American people and nation as mysteriously but inexorably intertwined with the will and wishes, the vengeance and the mercy and the punishments and the rewards of a divine force beyond time and space." (p. 226)

THE WAR'S TOLL:

"The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was disastrous, too. In the second week of December, Confederates crushed the Union forces there, exacting about thirteen thousand casualties to the South's nearly five thousand. "If there is a worse place than Hell," Lincoln said, "I am in it." As in the Secession Winter, there were calls for peace through compromise and negotiation — calls that were more urgent in light of the death toll and the Confederate victories. Unless the Union could triumph in the field, Lincoln said privately, "the bottom would be out of the whole affair." (p. 285)

RE-ELECTION

"In the fourth year of war, two hundred forty-five years after the arrival of the enslaved at Jamestown, eighty-eight years after the Declaration of Independence, and seventy-six years after the ratification of the Constitution, an American president insisted that a core moral commitment to liberty must survive the vicissitudes of politics, the prejudices of race, and the contests of interest. ... His achievement is remarkable not because he was otherworldly, or saintly, or savior-like, but because he was what he was-an imperfect man seeking to bring a more perfect Union into being." (p. 349)

LEGACY

"Lincoln kept America's democratic project alive. He did not do so alone. Innumerable ordinary people made sacrifices, even unto death, to preserve the Union against the designs of the rebel South. But Lincoln was essential, and his ultimate vision of the nation — that the country should be free of slavery — was informed by a moral understanding. To him, America ought to seek to practice the principles of the Declaration of Independence as fully as possible, for the alternatives were so much worse." (p. 418-419, Epilogue)

I started this book two days past the 160th anniversary of Appomattox Court House and four days prior to the 160th anniversary of Lincoln's death. For two weeks, I have immersed myself daily in the life of Lincoln and the happenings of the mid-nineteenth century. Meacham doesn't dwell on battle plans, successes and failures as so many Civil War-era books do, but deeply explores the man at the center of it all. 

Our Union endured an apocalypse in the mid 1800s, the reprecussions of which echo in our land on a daily basis even in 2025. Meacham's book helps us see the role the right man at the right time played in keeping the country together, despite enormous "fightings within and fears without."

Meacham concludes with these thoughts, which offer some hope among the weight: "Lincoln's life shows us that progress can be made by fallible and fallen presidents and peoples — which in a fallible and fallen world, should give us hope." (p. 420, Epilogue)

I strongly recommend this book. So far, it's my read of the year.

2024 Year In Review

If I had to sum up 2024 in one word, it would be “revealing.”

The first photo I have of the year is preparing for Redemption’s Tell City office space to be constructed. A long-dormant space later to be revealed as useable space for our staff. A small win this year.

Mid-month sinus surgery revealed that my body is, indeed, mortal. I’m thankful I did it, but I don’t plan to do it again. Unlabored breathing is always good, however.

Bella moved into her first solo apartment after a revealing year, for her, of living with a roommate and being on her own for the first time. A new place — on her own — revealed the gravity of adult responsibilities.

February started with fun as we and some good friends got to see a band (Extreme) I had wanted to see for decades. However, the month would end with a major health scare for my father-in-law, revealing to us how quickly life can turn.

March can’t be properly represented in photos (despite the fun of seeing Jason Isbell again) as a major crisis in our church family ultimately revealed who we really are as a church and as a staff (good). It was a revelation (bad) that wolves can hide in sheep’s clothing, but shepherds must defend the sheep. For me, this event and a revelation about an individual in 2023 were a one-two punch that has taken some time to fully digest and has, if I'm being honest, revealed an anger not fully resolved in my heart and mind.

Late March to mid-April revealed a maturing family with a milestone birthday for Bella, 47 for me, and 19 for Gabi. The day before my birthday, the sun was hidden but was revealed again a few minutes later in a very cool cosmic event.

Staff transitions at work revealed things will always change and people will enter and exit your daily life on an ongoing basis. These changes also revealed to me that sometimes your role will change and you must answer the call by letting go.

The beach revealed the wonder of the natural world, watching a sand crab go about his daily task of digging was a highlight of our trip to Cape San Blas — just Shannon and I this year, revealing that our family dynamics are swiftly changing.

Letting go of three loved guitars revealed that sometimes letting go also means gaining (new guitar in November). 

Family was a common theme of the year, where some things were revealed to us about ourselves as individuals and as a couple. Learning how to see our daughters as grown-ups was a huge revelation this year.

The last quarter of the year brought Shannon’s birthday, a trip to Arizona for me, another medical scare for Shannon’s dad (and another road trip), an election that revealed who we are as a people (but allowed the four of us to vote together for the first time ever), and Gabi’s revelation that her first car brought major adult responsibilities.

A family heirloom banjo and a new guitar brought some musical joy to a year that badly needed it, revealing that God’s grace is a sweet sound sometimes.

Wrapping up the year with Thanksgiving in Georgia and Christmas in Tennessee put a bow on the year with some good family visits.

Some revelations this year were bad, some were terribly difficult, but some were great, too. Shannon and I are as close as we’ve ever been, 26 years into our marriage, we feel settled and content — perhaps for the first time — living in Indiana, and we feel confident that we did the best we could raising our two daughters to be responsible human adults. We are so proud of them and how they are maturing — albeit with an anxiety about them that will, likely, never go away. Additionally, friendships became a revelation for us (introverts) this year and we hold them dear.

God's grace sustained us in 2024 and (good news) is promised to us for 2025. We're going to need it.

The Books I Read In 2024

A few years ago, I set a goal to read at least one book a month as I had allowed my phone, social media, etc. to greatly lessen my ability to stay focused. In 2024, I continued this challenge and read 24 books — an average of two a month. While some were deeply challenging, others were not. I tried to mix in some fiction this year (and already have some fiction on tap for 2025), but mostly read non-fiction works. 

While each photo links to Amazon, I'd urge you, instead, to visit your local bookstore and ask to order any that may interest you. While it may cost more, you help keep the bookstore spirit alive for another day.

Here's what I read with my favorites, listed in order of reading, at the end of the post.

The Year In Music 2024: Favorite Albums & Songs

In the past, I've often taken time at the end of the year to review what I considered to be the best music of the year. Caveat: I can't and don't keep up with everything. This post is me telling you what is the best among the music I actually purchased/downloaded/streamed, in 2024. Links will be for Apple Music, as that is my streaming platform of choice (however, I have physical copies — vinyl and/or CD — of most of these).

Good Reads: "The Church In Dark Times"

Occasionally, I will share about what I've been reading. For November 27 to December 10, 2024, I read this book. If you're so moved, read on.

The Church In Dark Times: Understanding And Resisting The Evil That Seduced The Evangelical Movement by Mike Cosper

Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Religion

Thoughts: In college, I took a class on political philosophy (I ended up minoring in political science and religious studies). It was, bar none, the most challenging class I had in my five years at Middle Tennessee State University. I never felt like I truly understood what was being discussed and I, more or less, hung on for dear life and squeaked out an average grade (more than likely it was a C, though I don't recall exactly what I made). One of the authors we read in the class was German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt — who survived Naziism and, ultimately, became an American citizen.

In The Church In Dark Times, author Mike Cosper (most well known for hosting the Christianity Today podcast The Rise And Fall of Mars Hill) examines Arendt's writings and thoughts to study how people, and more specifically the American evangelical church, keeps falling prey to scandal and evil within its walls. He delves into the story of Seattle's Mars Hill Church a bit, but it doesn't dominate the book either. Mostly, Cosper focuses on ideology and how "the banality of evil," as Arendt describes it, gets unthinking people (read: many of us, if we're being honest) to follow along with evil — whether that be the Holocaust or corrupt church leaders who (spiritually) destroy lives.