Journalist and historian Edward McClelland has reached an agreement with Pegasus to write Chorus of the Union: How Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Set Aside Their Rivalry to Save the Nation. The book will explore Lincoln’s long contest and eventual alliance with Stephen Douglas, highlighting the role that graceful concession serves in the electoral process, and also challenging the “great man” theory that attends Lincoln’s legend, investigating his complicated views on race and slavery, as well as the outsized role that his Illinois origins played in his rise, the state being (then as now) a microcosm of the nation, and the crucible of the slavery debate.
