The Black Heavens

The Black Heavens is a masterful and compelling exploration into Abraham Lincoln’s views of and reactions to the deaths of loved ones, friends, and the multitude of young men (and not a few women) he had to consign to the bloody battlefields of the Civil War.”—Bob Gorman, The Lincoln Herald

"Dirck’s latest effort—the first book-length treatment of the sixteenth president’s long relationship with death—will hardly disappoint those familiar with his prolific scholarship. . . . Students of the sixteenth president will want to add this concise, thought-provoking, and sensitively written volume to their bookshelves."—Brian Mathew Jordan, Civil War Monitor

"It is a testament to Dirck's writing that he can tell the story of Lincoln's life through the great man's experience with mortality. Dirck has written a highly engaging and, at times, gripping book that is recommended to all who are interested in Lincoln and nineteenth century America—As in a good tragedy, one finished Dirck's work feeling a kind of catharsis, gaining a better understanding of Lincoln, his time, and of the human encounter with mortality. Thus, Dirck's book is highly recommended"—Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society

"The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death" by Lincoln scholar Brian R. Dirck is a seminal work of outstanding scholarship."—Midwest Book Review

“In evocative prose, Brian R. Dirck analyzes Abraham Lincoln’s encounters with death to shed light on the man and his times. Readers will be grateful that this surprisingly neglected topic now has its first book-length treatment.”—Erik R. Seeman, author of Speaking with the Dead in Early America 
 
“‘Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs / Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes / Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.’ Lincoln appreciated Death as Shakespeare had written it—as a tragic sorrow—and by the end of his life (in speeches at Gettysburg and upon his Second Inaugural), Lincoln spoke the poetics of Death as well as the old bard. But as Brian R. Dirck reveals in this compact, powerful, insightful book, Lincoln also knew Death Irredeemable, the unleavened agonies of watching a mother groan and croak until you drag her up a hill and bury her in ‘as unpoetical’ a place ‘as any spot of the earth.’ The Black Heavens reveals the face of Death as Lincoln’s generation really knew it. Spare and unsparing, this book is a gem.”—Stephen Berry, author of House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War

“In The Black Heavens, Dirck tells the largely unexplored story of Abraham Lincoln’s personal encounters with death. This carefully researched and well-written work gives the reader new insights into how witnessing suffering and death affected the development of Lincoln’s thought and personality. Dirck has filled a major gap in existing literature on Lincoln and his era.”—Burrus M. Carnahan, author of Act of Justice: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War
 
“Once again, Dirck has displayed his gift for applying a popular analytical approach to familiar Lincoln material and producing something altogether original and enlightening. His analysis of Lincoln’s understanding of death yields unexpected insights into Lincoln’s understanding of the Civil War. Reading this book is like looking at a familiar Lincoln portrait hung at a new angle on a different wall, letting fresh sunbeams reveal more of what was always there.”—Gerald J. Prokopowicz, author of All for the Regiment: The Army of the Ohio, 1861–1862

“Dirck has produced a fascinating and elegant study of a subject that utterly captivated Abraham Lincoln throughout his lifetime—the nature and meaning of death. Any serious student of the great president or nineteenth-century American culture will surely want to read this insightful volume.”—Matthew Pinsker, author, Lincoln's Sanctuary:Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home