Reviews
Just when we might think nothing new can be written about Abraham Lincoln, comes Tom Wheeler's eye-opening, highly original, and altogether captivating take on the Lincoln legacy: Old Abe as the first master of new technology. Much more than a mere catalogue of telegrams, Wheeler's study breathes real life into Lincoln's growing need for current and reliable war news, and his increasing reliance on that era's version of instant messaging to instruct and inspire his generals, commute executions, and even stay in touch with his shopaholic wife. We've long known Lincoln was an epochal wire-puller. Now we can appreciate him as a historic wire sender, too.
Harold Holzer, co-chairman, U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, author of Lincoln at Cooper Union
"We must use the tools we have," Abraham Lincoln once said in frustration with one of his generals. He could have easily been referring to his own use of the telegraph which is brought vividly to life in this engaging story. Tom Wheeler's intriguing new book revisits a familiar hero, but does so from an utterly new perspective, revealing our now god-like 16th President to be an astute manipulator of modern technology.
Ken Burns, Filmmaker, PBS The Civil War
As a longtime student of the Civil War who is also a pioneer in modern telecommunications, Tom Wheeler is splendidly equipped to bring us this important but heretofore little-known part of the Lincoln saga. Mr.Lincoln's T-Mails is a fascinating, succinct and original history of how a great President used cutting-edge technology to save his country.
Michael Beschloss, Historian, PBS Commentator
After his great victory at Vicksburg in 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's thoughts turned toward Mobile, Ala. But then he received a telegram from President Abraham Lincoln.
Tom Wheeler, a telecommunications expert and former CEO of the National Cable Television Association, quotes from that Lincoln-to-Grant telegram in his mesmerizing new book, Mr Lincoln's T-Mails. ... A very enjoyable and rewarding take on an aspect of the Civil War and Lincoln's leadership that has not been examined before.
Read the full review >Cecil Johnson, Star-Telegram
(Syndicated in the Boston Globe, Arizona Daily Star, Miami Herald, St.Louis Post-Dispatch, Columbia Daily Tribune and The Ledger.)
Wheeler's new book, Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War, aims to bring new clarity to the much-analyzed question: How did the Union defeat the Confederacy in the Civil War? ... Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails shines when Wheeler compares the disruptive technology of the telegraph with that of contemporary telecommunications.
Read the full review >Russ Juskalian, Special for USA TODAY
The book thunders along, following the "messages of lightning" down the wires and into Vicksburg, Gettysburg and on to surrender at Appomattox. The writing is focused and lean, though Wheeler works in some sharp asides on telegraph code, political kickbacks and wartime censorship.
Read the full review >James Pressley, Bloomberg
In Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails, Tom Wheeler, a former telecommunications executive, argues that it was not his writing or his speaking but Lincoln's adroit use of new technology that allowed him to triumph over the less tech-savvy Southerners. … an original take on Lincoln's presidency.
Read the full review >Justin Ewers, Washington Post
What Bloggers Are Saying
See what Bloggers around the Web are saying about Mr.Lincoln's T-Mails (via Technorati).
'What Abe Lincoln's T-Mails Teach Us About Blogging', Steve Rubel, November 6 2006.
Articles
'How the Telegraph Helped Lincoln Win the Civil War', History News Network, November 20 2006.