i would rather talk about longfellow. and they spent several hours discussing poetry from shakespeare and longfellow and others i his mind was on the 750,000 americans who died in the civil war. that's where his mind was it wasn't mission accomplished or i'm the greatest or whatever. he was thinking about tho that had died. and it's quite movin and that's part of where his democcy comes from and hisbility to identify with people of all classes and allackgrounds. >> help us unrstand in the context of he fits into the culture d the middle-class marriage and was it a typical middle-class marriage and in an interesting section. >> let me ask questions about this theme. why abraham -- >> he didn't like it when people called him abraham or honest abe. he knew that in 1860 he became belod so it feedsnto my whole idea in the book about the way that he identifd with average americans and the way they s him and loved him. so people ound him knew that he only wanted to be called lincoln. not even m president or abraham. he signed hi

but i would rather talk about shakespeare and longfellow and he spent several hours discussing poetry. his mind was on the 750,000 americans who died in the civil war. that is where his mind was. it wasn't mission accomplished. he was thinking about those who had died. it's quite moving and that's part of where his democracy comes from in his ability to identify with people of all classes and backgrounds. >> is the typical middle-class marriage or was it something different, it's an interesting section book let me ask a few questions about the general theme why abe and not abraham lincoln? >> he didn't like when people called him abe and he said i wouldn't have gotten elected without the image of honest abe. he knew that in 1860 he became beloved among the people so it feeds into my idea in the book about the way that he identified with americans in the way that they saw him and left him so the people around him knew he only wanted to be called lincoln. he signed his name as though it is a tossup. or father abraham. >> one of the things that ran through the books that i didn't see muc

people later on thinking that the speech was a newspapers, i said, people like henry long wordsworth longfellowreally prominent people soon after the speech were writing glowing things about it saying what a great speech at was. host: one of the things we know that lincoln thought about back then was he was worried about the future of the government of the people, by the people, for the people. pew, as ofng to the 2017, 96 of 177 countries with populations of at least 500,000 were democracies of some kind, and only 13% were not. do you think lincoln would be less worried or more worried about the future of democratic governments today? guest: i think he would be astounded at the progress we have made in many ways. he and frederick douglass together, in many ways they could come back today, would be delighted with all the progress we have made in civil rights and other freedoms. as they looked out around the world, the march of democracy has been amazing. but i think they would also caution us again that every generation has to rededicate themselves to those founding principles. lincoln uses wor

people later on thinking that the speech was a newspapers, i said, people like henry long wordsworth longfellowrominent people soon after the speech were writing glowing things about it saying what a great speech at was. host: one of the things we know that lincoln thought about back then was he was worried about the future of the government of the people, by the people, for the people. pew, as ofng to the 2017, 96 of 177 countries with populations of at least 500,000 were democracies of some kind, and only 13% were not. do you think lincoln would be less worried or more worried about the future of democratic governments today? guest: i think he would be astounded at the progress we have made in many ways. he and frederick douglass together, in many ways they could come back today, would be delighted with all the progress we have made in civil rights and other freedoms. as they looked out around the world, the march of democracy has been amazing. but i think they would also caution us again that every generation has to rededicate themselves to those founding principles. lincoln uses words like