Jon Meacham in conversation with Larry Wilmore at Live Talks Los Angeles
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- Jon Meacham in conversation with Larry Wilmore at Live Talks Los Angeles
discussing his book, "And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle"
This event was taped on November 1, 2022.
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham chronicles the life and moral evolution of Abraham Lincoln and explores why and how Lincoln confronted secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery in order to expand the possibilities of America
Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. The Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, he is the author of the New York Times bestsellers His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, The Soul of America, The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, American Gospel, and Franklin and Winston.
Emmy Award winner Larry Wilmore has been a television producer, actor, comedian, and writer for more than 25 years. He can currently be heard as host of Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air on The Ringer Podcast Network. The show features Wilmore’s unique mix of humor and wit as he weighs in on the issues of the week and interviews guests in the worlds of politics, entertainment, culture, sports, and beyond. Larry can also be seen in the Paramount+ film Jerry and Margo Go Large, alongside Bryan Cranston and Annette Benning. He also serves as executive producer alongside Kerry Washington, in the upcoming legal drama Reasonable Doubt for Hulu’s Onyx Collective which premieres this Fall. He also appeared in and executive produced Netflix’s Amend: The Fight for America. Wilmore is perhaps best known for his role as host of Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, which debuted in January 2015 and ran for nearly two years. Wilmore serves as co-creator and consulting producer on HBO’s Insecure. He also helped to launch ABC’s black-ish as an executive producer and is a co-creator of the spin-off Grownish. Previously, Wilmore made memorable appearances as the “Senior Black Correspondent” on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and hosted his own Showtime “town hall”-style comedy specials, Larry Wilmore’s Race, Religion & Sex. He has written for In Living Color, The PJ’s (which he co-created), The Office (on which he has appeared as Mr. Brown, the diversity consultant), and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He also served as creator, writer, and executive producer of The Bernie Mac Show, which earned him a 2002 Emmy Award for “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series” and a 2001 Peabody Award.
A President who governed a country at war with itself has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Abraham Lincoln was president when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions inextricably bound up with money, power, race, identity, and faith. He was hated and hailed, excoriated and revered. In Lincoln we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations.
At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen in popular minds as the greatest of American presidents-a remote icon-or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln-an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment was essential to the story of justice in America. Here is the Lincoln who, as a boy, was steeped in the sermons of emancipation by Baptist preachers; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him light to see the right.
This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination at Ford’s Theater on Good Friday 1865: his rise, his self-education through reading, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end. In a nation shaped by the courage of the enslaved of the era and by the brave witness of Black Americans of the nineteenth century, Lincoln’s story illuminates the ways and means of politics, the marshaling of power in a belligerent democracy, the durability of white supremacy in America, and the capacity of conscience to shape the maelstrom of events.
Lincoln was not all he might have been-few human beings ever are-but he was more than many men have ever been. We could have done worse. And we have. And, as Lincoln himself would readily acknowledge, we can always do better. But we will do so only if we see Abraham Lincoln-and ourselves-whole.
Signed books can be purchased in this link:
livetalksla.square.site/product/meachamlincoln/537
Jon Meacham is just straight up, an amazing historian of our time. So knowledgeable, such a comprehensive understanding of our American history and waxes on it eloquently. He is a reputable asset for our democracy.
What an excellent and outstanding talk; propers to Mr. Wilmore and Mr. Meacham and all involved in audience and crew of Live Talks Los Angeles, sincerely!
Thank you.
OMG!!! Please tell us there is a sequel!!! The casting, the story, the ending!!!!! This show was incredible!!! HULU bring it back!! REASONABLE DOUBT!!!!
I always say,"I learn more from a conversation than worried about winning in an debate ". In an debated the main objective is that there has to be a winner in an conversation everybody walk away free to think about what they just experience. I hope learn something or see the same thing in a different light. I don't understand people not wanting to engage in conversation and still be free to walk away unchanged in your beliefs. Life goes on and I hope growth continue to take place. At 70 I am still interested in learning and growing in my experiences and knowledge.
This is one of the most interesting of the Meacham interviews.
Thank you. Great talk!
“Founders would be surprised we made it this far.” Best quote.
sense of fairness and respect for the rule of law before policy, YESSSSS!!!!!!
Meacham speaks in quotes.
Thank you Jon. I wonder as you gain insight have you ever thought about what part you could play in the government?
19:00 U.S. paid slaveowners at Reconstruction, albeit under Johnson.
Intersection of economics, politics & power; the intransigence leading to the CW & prospect of continuing resistance of the defeated South as a festering sore, & the economic hardship they faced bc their economic model was trashed, meant sweeteners were added to the deal - to minimise resentment.
The ability of those states, of those interests in slavery, to destroy or maim the Union had been amply demonstrated, thus their negotiating power vastly exceeded that of the emancipated slaves.
And the predominant vision of America after the war was not as we see it today, ie it was not an integrated vision.
The Jim Crowe era was then an administrative, economic & political continuation of the CW, hence reparations was hardly imaginable.
SCOTUS relatuvely recently held that those southern states no longer needed federal supervision to prevent racial gerrymandering (the VRA), & that they were best placed to decide on abortion without federal direction, so over-ruled RvW .. and we can see how that all is turning out!
If African Americans functioned as a political & economic block they'd have enough power to wring in some serious changes, but they don't, & the political strategy of the republicans is to ensure they are perpetually divided for this very reason.
If the whole minority vote was united .. same outcome, but again, republicans are determined that this will not happen.
It's called divide & conquer, & it's as old as human nature as a political strategy. As deeply social animals we are highly susceptible to this tactic.
This conversation is the INVERSE of Wack
What I do at 2am
Mr. Meacham is essentially wrong in his comment at about 56:00 that Winfield Scott was a Yankee. He was, in fact, a Virginian.
By calling him a Yankee he is referring to his support of the Union against the Separatist movement which became the Confederates. The term Yankee as a reference to an individual is born at this time to distinguish between those that were loyal to their "state" or to the "union". Winfield was considered a "yankee" and would have been called such in a derogatory way by his fellow Virginians. It is even noted that Robert E. Lee wasn't "really" in support of perpetual slavery but he felt more loyal to his "state" then he did to the "union". The context of how "Americans" saw themselves back then compared to modern times is important. And before you blast me too much... I am American in ancestry even if I am Canadian.
I've often wondered if Truman was chosen because he was such a pain-in-the-ass in the Senate investigating war profiteering and malfeasance.