The author's writing style is definitely scholarly and based on persuading the reader of his various points based on logic. This technique is effective for using historical evidence to support his observations. Many of Oakes' sources are primary and include editorials, speeches, and works of literature from these two men. The author takes great pains to provide the social, historical, political and even personal context that is necessary to understand Lincoln's and Douglass' evolving stances on politics and the issue of slavery. He relates some of the most salient incidents in U.S. history around this issue -- the rebellion and conviction of John Brown, the issues debated during the 1860 presidential campaign election, for example -- and shows how these affected the political directions of Douglass and Lincoln.
Other authors have assessed Oakes' book as a fairly credible piece of work which...
Still, there are some notable points of contention found in Oakes' views and those of other scholars. For instance, Oakes alludes to the fact that Lincoln was not the great emancipator which he is nearly universally accepted as in contemporary popular culture. There are other scholars and works of literature which contest this characterization of Lincoln and argue that he was anything but such an emancipator.
What I liked most about this book was Oakes' tendency to filter out the legend and popular perception of these two figures of American history and present their actions and opinions as reflections of the events in the time period in which they lived. I believe this book could have benefited from more quotes from Frederick Douglass. The most important thing I learned from this book is that Lincoln was not necessarily the great egalitarian that he is generally thought of as today.
