“Lincoln’s Marxists,” Book Reviews, and All That

By Al Benson Jr. Book reviews are something I have enjoyed reading and writing over the years, although I don’t consider myself especially good at writing them. On and off folks have sent me copies of their books to review and when I get one that looks like a good read I try to take the time to do a reading and review that I can hopefully get published somewhere to help them out. The book Donnie Kennedy and I have recently had published by Pelican Publishing Co., “Lincoln’s Marxists,” has gotten a couple good reviews on Amazon.com which I enjoyed reading. We recently had another review of our book that was somewhat less than everything you could hope for, but, given the nature of the subject, I guess that is to be expected. The review was published by an outfit called Book News Inc. http://www.booknews.com which is out of Portland, Oregon. The reviewer majors on the minor of the two different names Donnie and I give to the “late unpleasantness.” He says we “argue between themselves over whether the US Civil War should be called The War of Southern Independence or the War of Northern Aggression.” I don’t ever recall an argument between us over this and the two names are not mutually exclusive of one another. The “War of Southern Independence” most certainly turned into the “War of Northern Aggression” during its first year. The reviewer then notes that the reason European socialists and Communists joined up with Mr. Lincoln was because both had an equally negative view of Southern slavery, so it was just natural for the leftists from Europe to join forces with Lincoln and Company to rid the country of such a scourge. He’s wrong on Lincoln’s view of slavery as well as the leftist view of it. Lincoln didn’t care one way or the other and as for socialists and Communists they don’t seem to have a real problem with slavery as long as the State controls the slaves. He says the book is “likely to not be taken very seriously outside of neo-confederate and tea-party circles.” Whatever! Actually I would be happy if many of the Tea Party folks did read it and take it seriously. Whether it has any influence outside of these circles is ultimately up to the Lord and I am willing to leave that in His hands.