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History / American Studies / Russian & Slavic Studies

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The Tsar and the President Alexander II and Abraham Lincoln, Liberator and Emancipator Edited by Marilyn Pfeifer Swezey Foreword by the Honorable James W. Symington Introduction by Alexander P. Potemkin   “A revelation, not only for a better understanding of their times, but of our own.”—James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom   In 1861 Abraham Lincoln had just been inaugurated as the sixteenth President of the United States. Fort Sumter had surrendered to Confederate forces, and soon the Civil War would tear the nation in two. Half a world away in Russia, Tsar Alexander II proclaimed his Manifesto liberating twenty million serfs, one of the most transformative legislative acts in Russia’s history. Alexander’s liberating reforms would soon be mirrored by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, freeing Americans held in slavery. The Tsar and the President, a companion volume to a museum exhibition,documents the fascinating parallels in the lives of Alexander II and Abraham Lincoln, lives that each ended in assassination. Though separated by upbringing, class, rise to power, and geographical distance, Lincoln and Alexander II were both reformist leaders who faced violent dissent on the homefront. This book features nine essays by historians that examine the diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States in the 1860s, the similar challenges faced by Alexander and Lincoln, and each leader’s early years, path to office, vow to liberate, and tragic assassination. The volume includes excerpts from diplomatic dispatches and letters and more than fifty paintings, portraits, illustrations, and photographs of artifacts related to Russian-American relations of the era.   Marilyn Pfeifer Swezey is curator for the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation of Washington, D.C.   Distributed for the Oshkosh Public Museum and the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation   • “The Tsar and the President” exhibition appeared at the Oshkosh Public Museum July 12–October 12, 2008, and may be seen at the Kansas City Union Station Museum November 1, 2008–April 19, 2009. • Visit the Oshkosh Public Museum’s Web site at www.oshkoshmuseum.org For more information regarding publicity and reviews contact our publicity manager, Chris Caldwell, phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu

March 2009 112 pp.    8 1/2 x 11 pp 39 color illus., 20 b/w illus. ISBN 978-0-9787201-1-7  Paper $24.95 t Add titles to your shopping cart by clicking on the "Add this book to cart" link above. You can submit your order electronically, paying for it with your credit card. Click here for a further explanation of the shopping cart feature Never ordered from us before? Read this first.

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