In 'Differ We Must,' NPR's Steve Inskeep examines Abraham Lincoln's disagreements

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2023

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Abraham Lincoln's leadership is often remembered for reaching across the aisle – he tried to find compromises even in the most divisive times. But as successful as he was in saving the union, Lincoln also spent a lot of time agreeing to disagree with those around him. In his new book, Differ We Must, NPR's Steve Inskeep examines Lincoln's life through 16 such confrontations. In today's episode, Inskeep chats with NPR's Scott Simon about how Lincoln strategically positioned himself on issues like slavery, abolition and democracy – even when his own best friend opposed his stances.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Before we get into today show,
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0:33.7	You can find out more at plus.npr.org slash book of the day. All right, on to today's show.
0:39.6	People love writing books about Abraham Lincoln. There's a couple different numbers out there,
0:44.4	but the number of books written about the guy is somewhere in the 15,000 range. But today's book,
0:52.4	which, yes, is about Lincoln, is special. And I'm not just saying
0:56.6	that because it's by none other than Morning Edition host Steve Inskey. It's titled Differ We Must,
1:02.1	and it explores Lincoln's relationship with people who disagreed with him, people he
1:06.6	butted heads with on one issue or another. Now, the thing we all know about Lincoln is that he was a
1:12.1	bridge builder, right? That was probably his biggest political gift. He didn't let political purity
1:16.9	get in the way of working with someone to achieve a goal. But the thing Steve tells NPR Scott Simon
1:22.5	in this interview that I don't think many people recognize is that in his attempts at persuasion,
1:28.6	Lincoln failed, a lot, but he never stopped.
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