Abraham Lincoln and the Russians

by Albert A. Woldman

This is an interesting, if fairly problematic book that could be used as a poster child of the faults historians have in the last few decades made about diplomatic and political history. Written in the early 1950s this is a small tome on the diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States during the American Civil War - a fairly obscure part of the American Civil War that I had previously only had a snippet or two of knowledge about from previous reading into the conflict. Woldman bases most of his book off the correspondence of Eduard de Stoeckl - the Russian ambassador throughout the period - along with notable correspondence by other American and Russian politicians and newspapers that occur throughout the book, though these take a very distinctive backseat to Stoeckl's correspondence which is used far too often and at a length not in keeping with its importance. Much of the things Woldman does is quote Stoeckl at length on the numerous war developments, but while this is done for more than two hundred pages Stoeckl's views are rather aptly summed up in the first fifty pages of the book and further exposition of the kind made only makes some of the later chapters drag.

This said, though dated Woldman does have some nice examinations of then contemporary views of Russia in the United States and vice versa, the aims of Russian friendship with the United States as it related to the international balance of power after the Crimean War, the arrival of the Russian fleet in American waters for a time during the Civil War, and the Stoeckl's own views (until they are related far too lengthily). Probably seriously outdated at this point however.

***1/2 out of *****