This chapter, which examines the post-heroic era of Abraham Lincoln from postmodern and multicultural perspectives, explains that postmodernity and multiculturalism articulate changes that have transformed America. It suggests that the weakening of society's timeframe and diminishing heroes go hand in hand with the nation's increasing civility and enlarged awareness of its present faults and their historical sources. The chapter also contends that the discrediting of America's grand narratives is postmodernity's distinctive achievement.

This chapter, which examines the post-heroic era of Abraham Lincoln from postmodern and multicultural perspectives, explains that postmodernity and multiculturalism articulate changes that have transformed America. It suggests that the weakening of society's timeframe and diminishing heroes go hand in hand with the nation's increasing civility and enlarged awareness of its present faults and their historical sources. The chapter also contends that the discrediting of America's grand narratives is postmodernity's distinctive achievement.