Table of Contents

Introduction 1. The Founding: The West as a Land of Promise 2. 1854 3. Republicans and the Slave Power 4. A Republican World View 5. Government of the People 6. Government for the People 7. The Party of Loyalty 8. Government by the People 9. Creating a Free Labor Nation 10. Lincoln's Vision Destroyed 11. Shall Not Perish from the Earth 12. Republicans or Radicals? 13. Corruption and Cowboys: The Republican Party Splits 14. Communism! 15. Republicans and Big Business 16. Equality or Empire? 17. Keeping the Country Republican 18. Making the Depression Work 19. The March of the Flag 20. Republicans Become "Liberals" 21. Roosevelt Stands with Lincoln 22. The Red Scare and Calvin Coolidge 23. The Business of America is Business, 1921-1928 24. The End of an Era 25. Republicans and the New Deal 26. A New Republican Vision 27. The Birth of Movement Conservatism 28. The Second Reconstruction 29. Movement Conservatives Capture the GOP 30. Reagan 31. The Ending: The West as an Idea Conclusion

About the Author

Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian and professor of history at Boston College. Her daily newsletter, Letters from an American, has over a half million subscribers. The author of Democracy Awakening, How the South Won the Civil War, and Wounded Knee, she splits her time between Boston and Maine.

Reviews

Sean Wilentz, author of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln "At its Lincolnian best, the G.O.P. has been not just grand but good. In To Make Men Free, the eminent political historian Heather Cox Richardson superbly brings the Republican Party's history to life, while offering sharp and often surprising interpretations of its rises and declines, when it heeded Lincoln's legacy and when it did not." Eric Rauchway, Professor of History, University of California, Davis "Heather Cox Richardson tells a great story, full of fascinating figures, of how the Republican Party has enjoyed extraordinary political success in a country full of poor people, while doing much to serve the rich. It's a vital chapter in the history of American conservatism." T.J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt "In To Make Men Free, one of our most admired historians takes on one of the most important topics of our past and present: the 160-year story of the Republican Party. From Abraham Lincoln to George W. Bush, from Radical Republicans to Movement Conservatives, Heather Cox Richardson recounts the GOP's dramatic history with unimpeachable insights and crisp, vivid writing. How did the anti-slavery party become the party of the Solid South? How did the anti-trust party of Theodore Roosevelt become the party of Wall Street and the Club for Growth? In this brisk account, Richardson make sense of a twisting tale that shapes our lives every day." Ari Kelman, Bancroft Prize-winning author of A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek "Heather Cox Richardson has written a much-needed book: a comprehensive and balanced history of the Republican Party. The prose is engaging, the research is deep, the argument is persuasive; To Make Men Free is the work of a major talent at the top of her craft." Publishers Weekly "[An] opinionated history...Richardson aptly ends by wondering if the modern Republican Party 'will find a way to stay committed to the ideals of its founders.'" Ruy Teixeira, co-author of The Emerging Democratic Majority "Heather Cox Richardson's concise history of the Republican Party shows how a party that once saw government as the guarantor of equal opportunity for all morphed into today's intransigently anti-government, anti-tax, anti-regulation GOP. Richardson convincingly demonstrates that the Republican Party has oscillated throughout its history between equal opportunity and protection of property rights as its lodestar. Those seeking clues to how the GOP might evolve in the future will want to read this important book." New York Times Book Review "A readable and provocative account of the many paths that Republicans have taken to their current state of confusion." Los Angeles Times "The most comprehensive account of the GOP and its competing impulses... an important contribution to understanding where we are today." Washington Post "The book offers a lively survey of Republican politics in all its diversity, from the 'transformational presidency' of Abraham Lincoln (to borrow a 21st-century term) to the conservative ascendancy of Ronald Reagan." Washington Spectator "A rich portrait of the thinking and times of Abraham Lincoln and those closest to him in the founding of the Republican Party... perceptive and persuasive... Readers of Richardson's history of the GOP will come away with a good sense of the complex path that led the party to the abnegation of the Lincoln legacy." New Republic "[Richardson's] theory of the party's historical cycle is intriguing." Open Letters Monthly "Sharp and readable." Kirkus "Richardson makes a bold, pertinent argument... A hard-hitting study that will surely resonate with ongoing attempts to regenerate the GOP."