The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death (Brian Dirck) - a podcast by Rob Mellon

Dr. Brian Dirck discusses how death impacted our greatest President during his life.  He explains the death of his mother when he was a boy and how is father did not provide emotional support.  The talks about customs and rituals for mourning, funerals, and burials in the Victorian Era.  Dirck details deaths in Lincoln's life that had impact on him from his sister Sarah, Ann Rutledge, his son Eddie in 1850, Elmer Ellsworth, his son Willie while he was President, and the myriad of war dead.  He discusses the literature that Lincoln preferred and how that provides some insight into how he viewed death and dying.  He finishes with a comparison of wartime Presidents and how they dealt with death and what we can all learn from Lincoln's example.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Life & Death IPA, Vocation Brewery, West Yorkshire, England

BOOK:  The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Heavens-Abraham-Lincoln-Death/dp/0809337029/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+black+heavens+abraham+lincoln&qid=1614666188&s=books&sr=1-1

MUSIC:  Bones Fork

CLIPS:  President Obama reads the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln (2012) 

Further episodes of History Ago Go

Further podcasts by Rob Mellon

Website of Rob Mellon