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Historians have long puzzled over why a 31-year-old Abraham Lincoln abruptly broke off his first engagement with Mary Todd, before spiraling into a suicidal depression.
History professor Charles Strozier thinks the move of Lincoln’s best friend, Joshua Speed, to Kentucky, might have had something to do with it. Strozier has plumbed the letters of Lincoln and Speed. In their correspondence, he sees a profound connection between the two friends, one that helped each through the travails of duty, family, and intimacy.
And historian Donald Nieman of SUNY Binghamton considers what advice Lincoln, having led the nation through civil war, would offer the country’s bombastic new chief executive.
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Joshua Speed found his BFF in Abraham Lincoln.
Wikimedia Commons
Charles B. Strozier, City University of New York
Would Abraham Lincoln ever have become president if he didn't stumble into a dry goods store in Springfield, Illinois, and strike up a friendship with its owner, Joshua Speed?
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Politics + Society
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Donald Nieman, Binghamton University, State University of New York
The most hated president in US history could teach our new leader a few things.
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Ethics + Religion
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Elizabeth Schmidt, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The Johnson Amendment requires houses of worship to stay away from politics to receive tax exemptions. Yet, their leaders can speak out in a variety of ways that could reflect their religious views.
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Economy + Business
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Misheck Mutize, University of Cape Town; Sean Gossel, University of Cape Town
The BRICS bloc of states have resolved to establish an alternative credit rating agency to counter western dominance in the financial markets. Will it work?
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Rest of the World
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Luca Trenta, Swansea University
Losing a national security adviser is one thing – weeks and months of slow-drip crises is quite another.
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Finex Ndhlovu, University of New England
One of the ways by which Africa can overcome problems of underdevelopment is by using its abundant linguistic and cultural resources.
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Lyndall Grant, University of Melbourne
China's demographic experiment come to life in Little Emperors, but not always successfully.
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