Page 29 - aruba-today-20190622

A29
PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 22 June 2019
Bible underscores Lincoln's belief he was to end slavery

By JOHN O'CONNOR tual outlook and reliance
Associated Press on scripture to answer the
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A ghastly questions posed by
Bible given to Abraham Lin- war with his widow's efforts
coln in the final months of after his April 1865 assassi-
the Civil War ties together nation to have him remem-
the 16th president's bud- bered as spiritual rather
ding views on spirituality than as the religious skeptic
and his belief that God was he had been earlier in life.
calling him to end slavery "During the Civil War, there
as well as his widow's labors is an evolution that takes
to solidify his religious stand- place in Mr. Lincoln's reli-
ing, historians say. gious thoughts. He is search-
The King James Bible was ing for God's purpose. He's
eventually given by Mary redefining his relationship
Lincoln to Noyes W. Min- with his maker, and he's
er, a beloved Springfield trying to figure out what is
neighbor and a Baptist min- God's purpose in this war,"
ister whose descendants Wheeler said. "He believed
donated it to the Abraham that God was using him to
Lincoln Presidential Library end American slavery."
and Museum, which un- It's unlikely that Lincoln,
veiled it to the public on Mike Casey, Exhibits Project Manager at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, moves the who is known to have car-
Thursday. newly acquired Bible that belonged to Abraham Lincoln in his final year of life, into an exhibit ried a New Testament and
at the museum following a press conference announcing its arrival Thursday, June 20, 2019, in
The 18-pound (8-kilogram) Springfield, Ill. kept handy a daily devo-
volume has a cover of Associated Press tional, used the "presenta-
hand-tooled leather and tion" Bible for regular medi-
gilt lettering, and is inscribed U.S. Sanitary Commission, a lamation to the cause. debt of $9 million that had tation, Wheeler said. But
to the president from "the private agency that raised The gift is a boon for the li- gone toward the purchase multicolored ribbon mark-
Ladies of the Citizens Vol- money and recruited vol- brary and museum, which of Lincoln memorabilia, in- ers are distributed through-
unteer Hospital of Philadel- unteers to care for the Civil has been beset in recent cluding a stovepipe hat of out the book, which Mary
phia." Historians believe Lin- War's sick and wounded. years by a political battle dubious authenticity. Lincoln told Miner her hus-
coln received it on June 16, Lincoln had donated doz- for control of the institution State historian Samuel band had placed when
1864, the day he visited the ens of autographed copies and its fundraising founda- Wheeler said the Bible binds she gave Miner the book in
city for a fundraiser for the of the Emancipation Proc- tion's struggle to pay off a Lincoln's developing spiri- 1872.q

Naomi Wolf promotes new book delayed in the US by errors

By HILLEL ITALIE ings, notably on how often ing copies of "Outrages"
NEW YORK (AP) — Naomi the death penalty was ap- already published in the
Wolf says she has no hard plied. United Kingdom by Virago.
feelings about the BBC Wolf's U.S. publisher, Hough- Around two dozen people
interviewer who pointed ton Mifflin Harcourt, sub- turned out on a muggy,
out errors in her new book, sequently postponed the rainy night to see the au-
"Outrages," which has been book's publication, along thor, whose previous books
delayed for release in the with her U.S. tour, making include such bestsellers
U.S. against her wishes. the event at the Strand as "The Beauty Myth" and
"The bottom line is he did somewhat of a rebellion. "Misconceptions." She was
me a favor," she said Thurs- Wolf and Strand owner interviewed by the author
day night at the Strand Nancy Bass Wyden are old and editor Will Schwalbe,
Book Store in Manhattan. friends and agreed she whom she has known since
Asked by an audience should appear as planned. attending Yale University
member if she felt "humili- Wolf had previously chas- together in the 1980s.
ated," Wolf said that "in tised her publisher for the Asked by Schwalbe what
an ideal world" the errors publication delay, saying In this March 29, 2012, file photo, author and political consultant she hoped readers would
would not have been in her she had made the neces- Naomi Wolf speaks to reporters during a news conference in take from "Outrages," Wolf
book and that she felt "ac- sary corrections. New York. said she hoped it would
countable" to her readers. "I strongly objected to this Associated Press bring new attention to its
"I'm glad that he brought decision," Wolf, who has central figure, the British
them up," she said. been criticized frequently questions" that had arisen questions and said she "re- poet and cultural historian
Wolf's book, originally over the years for inaccura- about the text. Houghton mained committed" to her John Addington Symonds,
scheduled to come out this cies, tweeted June 14. Mifflin declined to be more book's U.S. release. She said a gay man who spent
week in the U.S., is an at- But on Thursday, Wolf ac- specific when asked by The that she was "in communi- much of his adult life mar-
tack on the punitive treat- knowledged she had Associated Press and de- cation" with Houghton Mif- ried to a woman before
ment of gays in Victorian made mistakes and other- clined comment on Wolf's flin and had no intentions finding love with another
England. Her promotion wise made no criticisms of decision to continue pro- of finding a new U.S. pub- man in his final decade.
for "Outrages" was upend- her publisher. moting her book. Wolf, in lisher. "He just didn't give up
ed last month, when the In announcing the post- an email earlier Thursday Having returned the U.S. on love," Wolf said. "And
BBC's Matthew Sweet chal- ponement last week, to the AP, also declined editions to Houghton Mif- I think that's a universal
lenged some of her find- Houghton Mifflin cited "new to discuss the additional flin, the Strand was sell- message."q