2024 the best book about lincoln review

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(as of Nov 04, 2024 07:32:08 UTC - Details)

In the best-selling tradition of Truman, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David Herbert Donald offers a new classic in American history and biography - a masterly account of how one man's extraordinary political acumen steered the Union to victory in the Civil War, and of how his soaring rhetoric gave meaning to that agonizing struggle for nationhood and equality.

Donald spent 50 years studying Lincoln, tracing his rise from humble origins to the pinnacle of the presidency. He reveals the development of the future president's character and shows how Lincoln's enormous capacity for growth enabled one of the least experienced men ever elected to high office to become a giant in the annals of American politics. And he depicts a man who was basically passive by nature, yet ambitious enough to take enormous risks and overcome repeated defeats.

Much more than a political biography, Lincoln seats us behind the desk of a president who was both a master of ambiguity and expediency and a great moral leader, as he makes the decisions that preserved the Union and shaped modern America.

Reviewer: Solipso
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Illuminating and completely satisfying.
Review: When General Grant's army captured Richmond, President Lincoln wanted to see the place in person. Perhaps to regale in the relief that the four-year travail of war was really coming to an end. He stepped ashore, and he was noticed by a crew of black workers. Their foreman exclaimed, "Bless the Lord, there is the great Messiah! ...Glory, Hallelujah!"As Professor Donald skillfully demonstrates, however, Abraham Lincoln was only human. He had just a single year of school, but he was an enthusiastic reader. After a few years as handyman, manual laborer, and store clerk, he became a lawyer. Then a politician. Honesty gave him humility. Charisma as a logical speaker gained him renown. Despite his gawky appearance, he developed into the man for the time. He became the Great Emancipator and the savior of the Union.What makes one man stand above the rest? Read this book and find out. Ancestry, childhood, young adulthood, successful lawyer, popular speaker, husband and father, president, and thinker. All of this and more are presented in easy-to-read detail. Major events receive more detail: the debates with Stephen Douglas, victory at the 1860 Republican convention and the ensuing election, secession and war, writing the Emancipation Proclamation, writing the Gettysburg Address, the thirteenth amendment, the hopelessness of early 1864, reelection, the second inaugural, civil war victory, plans for reconstruction, and assassination.I read Simon and Schuster's trade paperback, part of their Lincoln Library. Its cover is smooth and shiny with a profile of Lincoln. Its 599 pages of narration are followed by 87 pages of reference notes and 28 pages of index. The five maps are appropriately spaced. Unlike paperbacks with cheap prints, this one's thirty-two page portfolio is composed of glossy photographic plates.

Reviewer: Gary Hoggatt
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Donald's biography is a masterful telling of the life of one of our greatest presidents
Review: David Herbert Donald's 1996 biography Lincoln has been called the best single volume Lincoln biography of the period. Though this is my first Lincoln bio, I'd be surprised to read a better. Donald does a fantastic job of making Lincoln come alive and allowing the reader to join the 16th president on the amazing journey that was his life.Donald's framing device is that the reader is presented with the information Lincoln knew at the time. This reduces the frequent historical tendency to second guess the subject, and allows you to more easily see things from Lincoln's point of view when he was weighing his decisions. A significant example of this is that the reader is not taken to any Civil War battlefields as bullets fly, but instead joins Lincoln in pacing the War Department telegraph office waiting for news, writing to McClellan urging him to make a move, or visiting Grant as he makes his plans for the final push. It's a simple but powerful biographical technique, and Donald does it very well.The book is split roughly evenly between Lincoln's pre-presidential life and his presidential service. Donald's coverage of Lincoln's early life is very interesting, effectively conveying Lincoln's poor origins and his varied early careers. His legal career is particularly well-covered, with interesting examples from his law practice demonstrated by specific cases he argued. His private life is also chronicled well, with his early romantic interests and courtship of Mary Todd all receiving their due attention. Lincoln's early political career is fascinating, as he moves from the disintegrating Whig party in helping form the new Republican party.Once the presidential years begin, the focus naturally shifts to Lincoln's execution of his public duties. As expected based on his premise, Donald doesn't focus on the battlefields or the goings on of the South, instead doing an excellent job of showing the juggling act Lincoln had to perform with the various Northern factions - Radical Republicans, Conservative Republicans, War Democrats, Peace Democrats; abolitionists, western states, border slave-holding states; incompetent generals, more incompetent generals, and finally Grant. Donald's presentation of Lincoln's masterful navigating of these difficult waters truly gives the reader a great appreciation for the challenges Lincoln overcame in holding the Union together. Donald does still touch upon Lincoln's personal life during these years, including difficulties regarding Mary, and the devastating loss of their son Willie.As I finished the book, I realized that, even knowing all along how it sadly must end, Donald had brought me so close to Lincoln that it touched me personally, as if I myself had lost a friend or mentor. I can only thank Donald for making that possible for someone almost a century and a half gone.I absolutely recommend Donald's Lincoln to anyone with an interest in American history. It is simply a masterfully told story of one of the most important people in American history at the most important Post-Revolution crossroads in American history.I was so impressed with this book that I plan to read Donald's Charles Sumner and the Coming of the American Civil War, which won the Pulitzer Prize and covers the radical abolitionist senator that was a leading voice during the Civil War, and who makes many appearances in Lincoln. I also plan to read other well-regarded single volume biographies of Lincoln, including Abraham Lincoln: A Biography by Benjamin P. Thomas (1952), With Malice Towards None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B. Oates (1977), and A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White, Jr. (2009), each of which was heralded as the best Lincoln biography of their time. While I can't expect them to top Donald, I am eager to learn more about Lincoln, including how he's been viewed over the years.

Reviewer: Rob Kirk
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: You can always tell a good biography by how you feel
Review: You can always tell a good biography by how you feel. If you feel like you are in the action, maybe sitting in the corner watching the events unfold, then that's a great biography. Well, this book is a great in that sense. It makes you feel like you are part of Lincoln's personal and professional life and it's an absolute page turner. With the volume of books written about Lincoln you can go as deep as you want, this book isn't deep. It is rather complete though.

Reviewer: Abel Torres
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Buena calidad, buen aspecto, llegó impecable

Reviewer: Guillaume Goulet
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I loved reading this book and found myself sitting hours on end reading it. It is very thorough and well researched. An excellent piece of history!

Reviewer: Dr Zhu Weiguang
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Interesting to reading.

Reviewer: GATTU
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: GOOD

Reviewer: Cliente Amazon
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Este livro é exatamente aquilo que eu procurava: detalhado, contando a história do Mr. Lincoln desde seu nascimento na zona rural do Kentucky até seus últimos momentos na presidência.