Lincoln's Code by Of Law And History John Fabian Witt

Lincoln's Code by Of Law And History John Fabian Witt

Pulitzer Prize Finalist
Bancroft Prize Winner
ABA Silver Gavel Award Winner
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

In the closing days of 1862, just three weeks before Emancipation, the administration of Abraham Lincoln commissioned a code setting forth the laws of war for US armies. It announced standards of conduct in wartime--concerning torture, prisoners of war, civilians, spies, and slaves--that shaped the course of the Civil War. By the twentieth century, Lincoln's code would be incorporated into the Geneva Conventions and form the basis of a new international law of war.

In this deeply original book, John Fabian Witt tells the fascinating history of the laws of war and its eminent cast of characters--Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, and Lincoln--as they crafted the articles that would change the course of world history. Witt's engrossing exploration of the dilemmas at the heart of the laws of war is a prehistory of our own era. Lincoln's Code reveals that the heated controversies of twenty-first-century warfare have roots going back to the beginnings of American history. It is a compelling story of ideals under pressure and a landmark contribution to our understanding of the American experience.

Allen H. Witt is the Allen H. Witt is the Allen H. Witt is the Allen H. Witt is the Allen Duffy is a Guggenheim Foundation fellow, a lecturer of law at Yale Law School, and a professor in the Yale history department. Among other places, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, the Harvard Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal. The Accidental Republic, Witt's first book, received book prizes from the Harvard Press Board of Syndics, the American Society for Legal History, and the Law and Society Association.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781416569831
ISBN 10	1416569839
Title	Lincoln's Code
Author	Of Law And History John Fabian Witt
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Free Press
Year published	2012-09-04
Number of pages	498
Prizes	Winner of Bancroft Prize 2013, Commended for Pulitzer Prize (History) 2013
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.