Garry Wills

A Necessary Evil

October 28, 1999

In his most original and important work on American history since Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills examines Americans' skepticism and distrust of government, which he ascribes to our misunderstanding of the Founding Fathers and of much of history.

From Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton to Webster, Calhoun, and Lincoln; from frontier insurrections to Timothy McVeigh; from Thoreau and Emerson to hippie communes; from John Brown to Martin Luther King, Jr.; and from seccessionists to bombers of abortion clinics, Wills illustrates the peculiarly American penchant for fighting our own government - both from left and right - as he distinguishes between resistance to legitimate government and disobedience to unjust laws.

Garry Wills is the author of twenty-one previous books, including John Wayne's America and the national bestseller Lincoln at Gettysburg, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He teaches at Northwestern University and lives in Evanston, Illinois.

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