Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Knopf (2009), Hardcover, 224 pages
Description
On February 12, 1809, two men were born an ocean apart: Abraham Lincoln in a one-room Kentucky log cabin; Charles Darwin on an English country estate. Each would see his life's work inspire a stark change in mankind's understanding of itself. In this bicentennial twin portrait, Adam Gopnik shows how these two giants, who never met, altered the way we think about death and time--about the very nature of earthly existence.
User reviews
LibraryThing member bruchu
Celebrating Two Great Men
Essayist Adam Gopnik attempts to tackle the connections between intellectuals Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, both born on 1809 (coinciding with the bicentennial anniversary). The title "Angels and Ages" refers to the dispute over what Edwin Stanton was alleged to have
The book is read like an extended essay, just over 200 pages. I thought the sections about Darwin were better written and argued overall, whereas the Lincoln sections appeared to be incomplete. Although, I think one could argue that it was simply due to the vast differences between their respective bodies of work, Darwin was an intellectual, Lincoln led one of the most consequential wars in US history.
Overall, I thought this was a very well-thought out, well-argued essay about two of the most influential people in mankind. The connections between the two are more abstract than real, but Gopnik does a good job weaving through the analogies. A good read for an afternoon or two for sure.
Essayist Adam Gopnik attempts to tackle the connections between intellectuals Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, both born on 1809 (coinciding with the bicentennial anniversary). The title "Angels and Ages" refers to the dispute over what Edwin Stanton was alleged to have
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said over Lincoln's deathbed "Now he belongs to the ages?" or "Now he belongs to the angels?" Gopnick dovetails this analogy to Darwin's from "ape or angels?" referring to the perpetual debate between Science and God.The book is read like an extended essay, just over 200 pages. I thought the sections about Darwin were better written and argued overall, whereas the Lincoln sections appeared to be incomplete. Although, I think one could argue that it was simply due to the vast differences between their respective bodies of work, Darwin was an intellectual, Lincoln led one of the most consequential wars in US history.
Overall, I thought this was a very well-thought out, well-argued essay about two of the most influential people in mankind. The connections between the two are more abstract than real, but Gopnik does a good job weaving through the analogies. A good read for an afternoon or two for sure.
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LibraryThing member michaelbartley
I really liked this book, it shows how two men from very different backgrounds showed the way to our age. Both Darwin and Lincoln, sharing the same birthday, were products of the enlightment. Certainly more for Darwin, but each of them using reason expanded the spirital values of the world. A
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wonderful read Show Less
LibraryThing member subbobmail
Darwin and Lincoln, born on the very same day, remade the world. In this book Adam Gopnik delineates their lives and tries to explain his view of Modern Life. He's much better with the literary and biographical analysis than he is with the Big Theories. (Just an idea -- if you're going to expound a
Gopnik gets big points for noticing one important way in which Lincoln and Darwin were alike, as men and as writers: they built grand ideas on solid foundations of carefully accumulated detail. People came to accept Darwin's theory because he presented such a mass of closely-observed evidence to back it up. Lincoln could remake American law and society so thoroughly because he could, like the lawyer he was, buttress his arguments with citations of precedent and history, arranged in a coldly logical manner no one could deny. Accept his premise, and you had to accept his conclusion -- that was true of both the Emancipator and the shy Mr. Darwin.
Gopnik spends a lot of time talking about the words spoken by Lincoln's War Secretary just after Abe died: did Stanton say "Now he belongs to the ages," or did he utter "Now he belongs to the angels?" Frankly, I don't care, and we'll never now. It seems like the kind of angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin question that neither Darwin nor Lincoln would have dawdled with for long.
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Big Theory in a book, best not to invite comparisons with Charles Darwin.) Gopnik gets big points for noticing one important way in which Lincoln and Darwin were alike, as men and as writers: they built grand ideas on solid foundations of carefully accumulated detail. People came to accept Darwin's theory because he presented such a mass of closely-observed evidence to back it up. Lincoln could remake American law and society so thoroughly because he could, like the lawyer he was, buttress his arguments with citations of precedent and history, arranged in a coldly logical manner no one could deny. Accept his premise, and you had to accept his conclusion -- that was true of both the Emancipator and the shy Mr. Darwin.
Gopnik spends a lot of time talking about the words spoken by Lincoln's War Secretary just after Abe died: did Stanton say "Now he belongs to the ages," or did he utter "Now he belongs to the angels?" Frankly, I don't care, and we'll never now. It seems like the kind of angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin question that neither Darwin nor Lincoln would have dawdled with for long.
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LibraryThing member Othemts
My annual Lincoln/Darwin Day reading is a short book published for the bicentennial of their birth. This book is an extended rumination on the lives of two men born on the same day who helped create the modern world. Gopnik sees both Lincoln and Darwin as men of words, Lincoln with speech and
Favorite Passages:
"The thesis is that literary eloquence is essential to liberal civilization; our heroes should be men and women possessed by the urgency of utterance, obsessed by the need to see for themselves and to speak for us all. Authoritarian societies can rely on an educated elite; mere mass society, on shared dumb show. Liberal cities can't. A commitment to persuasion is in itself a central liberal principle. New ways of thinking demand new kinds of eloquence. Our world rests on science and democracy, on seeing and saying; it rests on thinking new thoughts and getting them heard by a lot of people." p. 22
"The attempt to make Lincoln into just one more racist is part of the now common attempt to introduce a noxious equilibrium between minds and parties: liberals who struggle with their own prejudices are somehow equal in prejudice to those who never took the trouble to make the struggle. Imperfect effort at being just is no different from perfect indifference to it." -p. 49
"... for the first time, and despite much conventional religious piety -- there's a nascent sence throughout the liberal world that the deaths of young men in war will never be justified in the eyes of a good God, and never compensated for by a meeting in another world. Their deaths can be made meaningful only through a vague idea of Providence and through the persistence of a living ideal." - p. 120
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rhetoric and Darwin with his novelistic prose. The title and a major issue upon which Gopnik builds his narrative is the debate of Edward Stanton's eulogy for Lincoln, whether he said "Now he belongs to the angels" or "Now he belongs to the ages." This book is an interesting but not essential addition to the literature about these two fascinating men.Favorite Passages:
"The thesis is that literary eloquence is essential to liberal civilization; our heroes should be men and women possessed by the urgency of utterance, obsessed by the need to see for themselves and to speak for us all. Authoritarian societies can rely on an educated elite; mere mass society, on shared dumb show. Liberal cities can't. A commitment to persuasion is in itself a central liberal principle. New ways of thinking demand new kinds of eloquence. Our world rests on science and democracy, on seeing and saying; it rests on thinking new thoughts and getting them heard by a lot of people." p. 22
"The attempt to make Lincoln into just one more racist is part of the now common attempt to introduce a noxious equilibrium between minds and parties: liberals who struggle with their own prejudices are somehow equal in prejudice to those who never took the trouble to make the struggle. Imperfect effort at being just is no different from perfect indifference to it." -p. 49
"... for the first time, and despite much conventional religious piety -- there's a nascent sence throughout the liberal world that the deaths of young men in war will never be justified in the eyes of a good God, and never compensated for by a meeting in another world. Their deaths can be made meaningful only through a vague idea of Providence and through the persistence of a living ideal." - p. 120
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LibraryThing member hermit
Adam Gopnik is a writer for the 'New Yorker' and has written this small book which contains dual biography of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln which he ties together because they were both born on 12 February 1809. In his two essays the author analyzes what he sees as their influence on modern
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society. He contends that these two men introduced what we know as the liberal modern age with Lincoln's speeches and Darwin’s writings. That these were the men and vehicles used to spread the new ideas that formed modern society. As a dual historical biography he fails but as two separate essays they would be excellent for publication within the pages of the magazine he works for. Or if you are just looking for a casual introduction into these two men it would be worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member OccassionalRead
Gopnik takes a simple conceit, the fact that Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day, and uses this as a launching point for a discursive, free form essay, about each man's contribution to the age of modernity. Gopnik praises Lincoln for his ability to distil complex legal
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arguments into a simple message any man could grasp. Too bad he cannot emulate his hero in this respect. Gopnik says his book is short, but at 200 pages it's a hundred pages too long. This would have been much better had it remained a New Yorker essay. The book rambles and Gopnik wears his erudition on his sleeve. Not an author I will be revisiting. Show Less
LibraryThing member ronsea
An excellent small book very well written and thought out. Although the characters are used to illustrate a grander point, it is an important meditation especially on Lincoln.
LibraryThing member phredfrancis
This is two for two on Adam Gopnik's books for me. Having started this one so close on the heels of Paris to the Moon, I see now that it's not just the subject that's presenting a problem. In general, I find Lincoln and Darwin far more interesting subjects than I do Paris, but author's style at
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times stands between his ideas and his reader (this reader, anyway). Without being especially ornate or flowery, Gopnik still managed to construct sentences that elude ready understanding, and I can't understand why. His points are not so difficult or subtle as to require that ponderous style. I admit that they are interesting, but they don't quite rise to the level of compelling. Show Less
LibraryThing member annbury
This is a great read, especially on Lincoln. Gopnik understands what Lincoln's view of life was, and how important the law and Shakespeare was to his rhetoric. This is a splendid read for me who has visited the Soldiers Home in Washington,where Lincoln spent the summer months, and Springfield
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Illinois, where the parks service has a great tour of the man's house and outbuildings. As far as Darwin is concerned, I knew nothing of him or his works, and now will read some, influenced by Gopnik. The author seems to argue that the individual religious experience can control life, while science goes its merry way. He does not like fundamentalists, nor do I, and he argues persuasively that they are crazy. Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
The thesis of this book seems to be that both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin contributed to modern life in ways beyond the obvious. This book reads like an essay...no footnotes...and pursues various related ideas about religion, war, masterful use of language and society.
This is the kind of
This is the kind of
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book that frustrates me because it appears to be written to show what the writer knows rather than to engage the reader. I'm an expert neither in Lincoln/American History nor Darwin/science. I had trouble following the author's points because he dropped in names or other references without explaining them or giving any context. Show Less
LibraryThing member themulhern
Starts out poorly, gets more and more interesting, and then concludes fatuously. I listened to an audiobook, the author reads his own work. He makes Darwin sound very pert, and as far as I can remember, gives Lincoln no special voice at all. I think he is trying to sneak up on his thesis just like
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Darwin did in the "Origin of Species", but, because his thesis is pretty much empty, that does not work so well. The parallels that are drawn between the two famous contemporaries are not nearly as forced as one would expect them to be. Show Less
LibraryThing member steve02476
Very nice book. I care a lot more about Darwin than Lincoln, but I learned about both and it was interesting to see them compared. The last summary chapter was a little too abstract and hand-wavy for me, but overall a fine book.
Language
Original publication date
2009
Physical description
224 p.; 9.1 inches
ISBN
0307270785 / 9780307270788
DDC/MDS
| 973.7092 |