Matt Miller - The Archives
Happy holidays! A book tip for the snowbound, plus some news...
December 27, 2010

If you're east and need a good political book to curl up with in front of the fire during the blizzard, I just finished Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America," by Allen Guelzo. A great read—tons I didn't know (like why did the much more famous Douglas agree to these debates in the first place, major error...)—among the book's many lessons, politics never changes, but the quality of "debate" sure does.....Lincoln is of course impressive, all the more so for having to pander to anti-black sentiment as part of his drive to win while still defining slavery as a moral evil....the real Lincoln is always more interesting than the cardboard civics book saint....Abe lost the 1858 election but became a nat'l figure set up for 1860....More on the book here (and it's available on Kindle)

Also, I'm guest hosting The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC this Monday to Thursday, 4-5pm eastern time. Hope you'll tune in—and feel free to urge everyone you know to, too...:)

Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy 2011! (And hope you'll follow me on twitter next year @mattmillernow)