John Stauffer's "Giants" published Nov. 3, 2008

Thanks to B&N knowing that I purchase CW titles on my account, I received notice that a book signing would take place in the Skokie B&N store. Two of us from the CW book discussion group made it to the talk, where we learned lots about Lincoln and Frederick Douglass in a half hour or so.

Looking forward to reading the book, and learning more about their "parallel lives" which is the subtitle. Turns out that reading material was one thing they had in common, much before they ever chanced to meet. Stauffer challenged us to name six books: we came up with the Bible, Shakespeare, and the leading book on oratory [the Columbian Orator, full name], while he had to supply Aesop's Fables (a book by a slave about slaves), followed by the poetry of Robert Burns and Lord Byron. We were congratulated with being able to name so many!

In discussing his writing of this book, Stauffer brought in the similarity of Obama's use of oratory and performance skill. The obvious point to all, that Obama will acknowledge that he reads and is informed by Lincoln's writings, while not mentioning Douglass, whose influence Stauffer detects in Obama's words, was also discussed. Which thus becomes another hook to the potential readership for "Giants."