![]() ![]() In alternating segments moving chronologically from 1861 to 1871 and after, Beran sets his vivid historical characters against increasingly dire backdrops. The three leaders essentially fashioned their countries into “machines of freedom,” the consequences of which still reverberate today. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and united a bitterly divided United States Bismarck wrestled the German states from Hapsburg control and created a modern militaristic Prussian stronghold Alexander gambled on reform by freeing the serfs and ushering in a rule of law. ![]() A sprightly work of scholarship by journalist-historian Beran ( Jefferson’s Demons: Portraits of a Restless Mind, 2003) cuts suspensefully among decisive moments in the lives of Abraham Lincoln, Otto von Bismarck and Russian Tsar Alexander II as they revolutionized their respective countries. ![]()
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