The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 15

Hsr; SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1992 REVOLUTION AT GETTYSBURG A REVIEW BY ADAM BEGLEY Lincoln at Gettysburg The Words That Re-Made America By Garry Wills Simon Schuster 304 $23 last phrase that is, the image of a nation continually rededicating itself to a proposition set forth in the Declaration of Independence, a nation always born again in the spirit of equality. Because Lincoln's speech has become such an integral part of American political consciousness, we are utterly unaware of the radical implications of his premise. Wills argues that Lincoln altered our conception of the meaning of the Constitution (which makes no mention of equality), without jeopardizing the authority of that essential document. The process began that very day Nov. 19, 1863 with the crowd that heard Lincoln speak: "Everyone in that vast throng of thousands was having his or her intellectual pocket picked.

The crowd departed with a new thing in its intellectual luggage, that new constitution Lincoln had substituted for the one they brought there with them." The "new constitution" is provisional; it must be tested and re-tested against the permanent ideal expressed in the Declaration four score and seven years earlier: all men are created equal. What does Lincoln at Gettysburg tell us about America today? As I read I kept thinking about the new national fad: bashing politicians. One thing this book conclusively demonstrates is that Abraham Lincoln, though we revere him as a statesman, was also a brilliant and slippery politician. The Emancipation Proclamation, for example, is often thought of as a morally charged document But Lincoln, mindful both of the legal limits of his power and of Southern sensibilities, insisted over and over again that it was merely "a necessary war measure." The Gettysburg Address is not straight talk; nor is it tough talk; it contains no hint of confrontation, no swagger. It is artful talk meant to heal bitter division.

The issue that tore the Union apart was slavery, and Lincoln doesn't mention the word. I'm not suggesting that on this occasion, to put it in today's terms, he was pandering to a pro-slavery special interest group. (On other occasions he did something very like that, but those speeches are less perfect instances of his political art.) The thrust of his Gettysburg speech is to offer a symbol to which the nation, once reunited, might cleave. Lincoln at Gettysburg, in this respect, is a celebration of political genius. To heal divisions that devil us now, to invigorate our country with common purpose, should we throw out politics in favor of blunt efficiency? Nothing I learned from this fascinating exploration of the Gettysburg Address leads me to believe that the management of our differences should be left in the hands of people who pretend to despise politics which is, after all, the science and art of government.

Special to TIM Courier-Journal The reviewer Is a writer in Hopklnsvllle, Ky. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, London Review of Book and other publications. NEARLY 130 years ago (six score and nine, to be exact), Abraham Lincoln brought forth on this continent a new form of political rhetoric: the sound-bite. I exaggerate, but only to emphasize the most extraordinary fact about the dedication remarks we call the Gettysburg Address: It is only 272 words long. In this brief space, Lincoln gave Americans a new way of thinking about America, the vision of a nation "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." He packed his message tight, with the happy result that we carry it with us like a good luck charm.

It is a truth unexamined, mysterious, mythic. Garry Wills has devoted the 304 pages of his new book, Lincoln at Gettysburg, to tracing the context, structure, style and meaning of those 272 words. He does not intend to rob the charm of its magic, and yet he sets about methodically unpacking Lincoln's message. The process is thrilling, an act of reverence as much as interpretation, one that leads to an inspiring re-evaluation of the speech and the man who made it. And though Wills makes no pronouncements about the current state of the nation, the material provokes much thought.

In an election year we naturally think about leadership, and Lincoln was a great statesman. Wills is ambitious about setting straight the historical record. He gives some attention to immediate details no, Lincoln did not scribble the text of his speech on the back of an envelope, and, no, he was not dissatisfied with his performance. Those chestnuts are easily tossed aside. Wills is more interested in the broad cultural background of mid-19th Century America and in Lincoln's own literary, political and intellectual formation.

He discusses the aesthetics of Greek Revival; the florid speechifying of Edward Everett (who delivered the official oration at Gettysburg, a two-hour performance that receded Lincoln's three-minute speech); laniel Webster's polemics; and the influential transcendentalism of Theodore Parker. He shows how Lincoln mastered and refined the rhetorical devices popular in his day and then fitted them to a stnpped-down, hurry-up style suited to modern communica- STAFF ILLUSTRATION BY NICK ANDERSON a new way of thinking about America. THE SHEPHERD ON PLUM LICK A REVIEW BY DONALD B. TOWLES The View From Plum Lick By David Dick Host Creative Communications 227 $14.95 The reviewer Is The Courier-Journal's vice president for public affairs. IT'S NOT a book to read quickly, lest you miss something.

Like eating country ham. Savor each bite. Or drinking good Kentucky bourbon. Sip along. That's one way to describe The View From Plum Lick by David Dick, 227 pages of vignettes about a place and people that, fortunately, history hasn't passed by.

Collectively, they present a story of a man come home after traveling the world at a fast pace in search of news for 19 years. David Dick is the director of the School of Journalism at the University of Kentucky. Before that, and until he decided to hang up his microphone and return to the At Gettysburg, Lincoln 'gave Americans tioa "The railroad, the telegraph, the steamship had quickened the pace of events," Wills writes. "Thoughts and words took on new and nervous rhythms." The Gettysburg speech, he notes, has a "telegraphic Lincoln "was not addressing an agrarian future but a mechanical one." Lincoln came to Gettysburg, Wills claims, not to present an argument or advance a theory, "but to impose a symbol." Indeed, his speech is built on abstractions and almost entirely devoid of concrete reference. Instead place of his roots, he was a correspondent for CBS News, reporting on what happened in 22 countries and in all the states of the Union except Alaska and Hawaii.

A Kentuckian, he got his journalistic start at WHAS radio and television before joining CBS, where he won an Emmy for his coverage of the assassination attempt on the life of Gov. George C. Wallace. Plum Lick in Bourbon County is where his great-great-great-grandfather Joshua settled in 1790 in the valley of the Plum trees. Remarkably, Dick was able to acquire the spot from which his roots sprung.

It would have been easy for Dick to recount his experiences as a CBS correspondent, but that's not what this book is about, though he does sprinkle some network anecdotes sort of like four-leaf clovers in a field of daisies. Kentucky historian Thomas D. Clark found the tone of the book in his foreword when he wrote, "Only a dedicated steward of so pleasant a site on earth as Plum Lick Farm in Bourbon County could inscribe on paper for his readers the sacramental ex have tried to give a truer account of Rosa Parks through the monologue that is performed as part of my dramatic work "You've Struck a Rock Women in the Struggle" first performed at the MEX theatre in 1989. The roles of women in any major historical events are always minimized by the men who write the history. At a very young age, Rosa Parks stood up for her rights.

When faced with racist attitudes and abuse, she fought back. Her grandmother was afraid she "would probably be lynched before I was 20 years old." Her realization of injustices through different treatment and opportunities for whites and blacks came early. She also learned that nobody was inherently racist because she encountered fair treatment and concern from many whites. This fact was re-emphasized by the inclusion of whites in the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks honed her skills for political activism through years as secretary of the NAACP, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the Alabama Voters' League, and also through training at the Highlander Folk School in Mont-eagle, Tenn.

"The school offered workshops to train future leaders so they could go back home and work for change using what they had learned at the school." Through this book, Rosa Parks continues to work for change. She corrects the traditional report of her story. She of the gruesome particulars of the Civil War battle, he describes a struggle to test a political idea. The word "here" is repeated eight times in the course of the address. At first the word lends a sense of immediacy, but as it's repeated it becomes incantatory, an all-purpose "here" suitable for reciting in any sixth-grade classroom: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom." The symbol Lincoln sought to impose is expressed in this perience of lifting a two year-old country ham down from the joist of a country smoke house." Former colleague Dan Rather calls the book "plum good" and Charles Kuralt describes it as "rich and deep and full of the joy of life." Actually, Dick reaches back into his past to write about such people as Sadie the gardener; countrywoman Ma Boyd; his stepfather, Mr.

Bill; his teacher, Miss Su-die; and Sister Jane, among others. Calling himself the "shepherd on Plum Lick," he writes with abandon about geese and jonquils and lightning bugs, hog killing and the curing of ham, crickets and cows and flowers and earthquakes, and the best of baloney sandwiches and outhouses. You soon find he loves dogs, all sorts of dogs, as he tells about NCAA, Booger Red, Ewedawg and Lambdawg. He spends nearly as much space writing about lambs and sheep and the trials and tribulations of raising them. In fact, Dick writes about so many things and people that this isn't a book to be gobbled up in one sitting.

Better to find ASSOCIATED PRESS Icons of freedom: Civil rights leader Rosa Parks and the Liberty Bell. gives a clear, concise account of many important events. Her political insights remain sharp, as evidenced by her commentary on contemporary events. My Story by Rosa Parks should be on the shelves of all school libraries. Teachers should find it a useful reference to add to their Black History bibliography.

There will be no reason to perpetuate the myth that Rosa Parks was a tired old lady whose feet hurt. SPKtol to The Courier -Journal TIRED OF GIVING IN' A REVIEW BY AMELIA BLOSSOM PEGRAM BEST SELLERS (PAPERBACKS) FICTION 1. The Firm by John Grisham. 2. A Time to Kill by John Griaham.

3. Patriot Games by Tom Clancy. 4. The House of Thunder by Dean R. Koontz.

5. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan. 6. Man of My Dreams by Johanna Lindsay. 7.

Sleeping Beauty by Judith Michael. 8. Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zartn. 9. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag.

10. Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg. 11. Darkness by John Saul. 12.

Paradise by Judith McNaught 13. Beast by Peter Benchley. 14. Woman Without a Past by Phyllis A. Whitney.

15. Ice Trap by LA. Graf. NON-FICTION 1. Ross Perot: In His Own Words by Tony Chiu.

2. Growing up Brady by Barry Williams and Chris Kreskl. 3. On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett. 4.

America: What Went Wrong? by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele. 5. Parliament of Whores by P.J.

O'Rourke. 6. You Just Dont Understand by Deborah Tannen. 7. Cruel Doubt by Joe McGinniss.

8. A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle. 9. The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck.

10. Touours Provence by Peter Mayle. ETCETERA ILLUSTRATION BY JACKIE LARKINS Journalist David Dick: 'There Is, Indeed, a story for every moment' a quiet spot, where reflections come easy, and pick and choose the stories that appeal at the moment, for there is, indeed, a story for every moment. It soon becomes evident that while Dick distinguished himself at CBS and enjoyed the time, he loves the life of Plum Lick and relishes in sharing his story. NEW MAGAZINES Just as we read that one of America's most durable and reliable sources of literary pleasure, The New Yorker, is on the verge of disfigurement, two new magazines featuring major contemporary writers have appeared.

It is not a moment too soon. Current Books, a bi-monthly publication ($3.95 a copy; $14.95 per year; P.O. Box 34468; Bethesda, Md. 20827), is in my view the better of the two. It has an illustrious list of contributors for its first issue including James A.

Michener, Joyce Carol Oates, Vaclav Havel, Daniel Boorstin, Jimmy Carter, Salman Rushdie, Jane Smiley, Garrison Keillor and Gore Vidal. "Lincoln Up Close," by Vidal, is one of the best short descriptions of the 16th president available. Current Books reminds me of a Reader's Digest for serious readers. It is a perfect size for packing in a backpack, carrying on the bus, toting to the beach or reading in bed. The Oxford American, subtitled "A Magazine from the South," is heavy on regional writers, but is truly a national publication.

Indeed, there are several fugitives from The New Yorker on the list (John Updike, Pauline Kael, William Steig and Bill McKibben), as well as other familiar names: Roy Blount John Grisham and William F. Buckley Jr. (It's $4.95 per copy; $16 per year; U5Vi S. Lamar; Oxford, Miss. 38655).

I found the byline list to be heavily dominated by men. Coming out of the South, that should be an easy imbalance to rectify. Keith Runyoa, Book Editor My Story By Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins Dial Books 172 $17 The reviewer Is a writer, poet and teacher in Louisville. PEOPLE always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day.

I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was 42. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in." Rosa Parks tells her history in a simple, direct manner. She is able to explode all the myths that have surrounded her role in the Civil Rights Movement. She sets the record straight in no uncertain terms.

In sharing the story of her life, Rosa Parks gives a clear picture of the training in political awareness and resistance she received from her grandparents and parents: "My grandfather was the one who instilled in my mother and her sisters, and their children, that you don't put up with bad treatment from anybody. It was passed down almost in our genes." It is important that this book be shared with children. Over the years I 1. Life's Uttle Instruction Book by H. Jackson Brown Jr.

2. Live and Learn and Pass ft On by H. Jackson Brown Jr. 3. The T-Factor Gram Counter by Jamie Pope-Cordle and Martin Katahn.

4. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. 5. Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons by BiB Watterson.

Now Yort TimM town Sorvico.