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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
Well written, well organized, and a pleasure to read. I'll need to ream more of his writing.
the war started, and aaron and I just stopped listening
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
“With me, the race of ambition has been a failure—a flat failure.” —Lincoln
Born on the frontier in a one-room cabin. Autodidact with little in the way of schooling. Lawyer from Illinois. President. Emancipation. War stuff. Ford’s Theater. I thought I knew plenty about Abraham Lincoln.
This book corrected me.
In general, I think it’s safe to say that people know more about the outlines of Lincoln’s life than just about any other president. But when you read a full-scale biography of him, you realize Lincoln was even more brilliant and shrewd and inspiring and political and ambitious and empathetic than the cookie cutter version you get in pop culture.
As I said above, there’s something intensely compelling about Lincoln the man — he was so human compared to other famous figures. But Lincoln the politician was also fascinating to read about. While he had practically no experience in government before being elected POTUS (besides two years in Congress in the late 1840s), he taught himself how to be a great political leader. As we know from our nation’s history, anything that can be made political, will be. The Civil War was no different, and indeed even the Emancipation Proclamation was largely a political document (and a brilliant one at that).
It’s hard to imagine what other presidents would have done during the Civil War. Andrew Jackson surely would have had Lincoln’s fortitude, but none of his compassion. Madison would have theorized very well, but likely not done great with the practical matters of being Commander-in-Chief during a war. Lincoln had the perfect constellation of traits to lead the United States of America through its defining crisis.
Donald’s book has long been considered among the best and most readable one-volume biographies of Lincoln around. While the prose is good, Donald isn’t a great narrative writer of history, and seems to give Lincoln less emotion than other historians. (Though, in all honesty, it helped to picture Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln while reading this.)
That said, I’ll repeat what I’ve already conveyed a couple times: Abraham Lincoln is so interesting to me as a subject of study that I flew through this book. For people who are interested in POTUS #16, this is a great starting point. And though I can’t judge it within the canon of Lincoln books (I’ve not read enough of the 15,000 published about the man), I can say that you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more accessible biography that still goes into great detail about his entire life from cradle to grave.
Born on the frontier in a one-room cabin. Autodidact with little in the way of schooling. Lawyer from Illinois. President. Emancipation. War stuff. Ford’s Theater. I thought I knew plenty about Abraham Lincoln.
This book corrected me.
In general, I think it’s safe to say that people know more about the outlines of Lincoln’s life than just about any other president. But when you read a full-scale biography of him, you realize Lincoln was even more brilliant and shrewd and inspiring and political and ambitious and empathetic than the cookie cutter version you get in pop culture.
As I said above, there’s something intensely compelling about Lincoln the man — he was so human compared to other famous figures. But Lincoln the politician was also fascinating to read about. While he had practically no experience in government before being elected POTUS (besides two years in Congress in the late 1840s), he taught himself how to be a great political leader. As we know from our nation’s history, anything that can be made political, will be. The Civil War was no different, and indeed even the Emancipation Proclamation was largely a political document (and a brilliant one at that).
It’s hard to imagine what other presidents would have done during the Civil War. Andrew Jackson surely would have had Lincoln’s fortitude, but none of his compassion. Madison would have theorized very well, but likely not done great with the practical matters of being Commander-in-Chief during a war. Lincoln had the perfect constellation of traits to lead the United States of America through its defining crisis.
Donald’s book has long been considered among the best and most readable one-volume biographies of Lincoln around. While the prose is good, Donald isn’t a great narrative writer of history, and seems to give Lincoln less emotion than other historians. (Though, in all honesty, it helped to picture Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln while reading this.)
That said, I’ll repeat what I’ve already conveyed a couple times: Abraham Lincoln is so interesting to me as a subject of study that I flew through this book. For people who are interested in POTUS #16, this is a great starting point. And though I can’t judge it within the canon of Lincoln books (I’ve not read enough of the 15,000 published about the man), I can say that you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more accessible biography that still goes into great detail about his entire life from cradle to grave.
It is indeed a carefully and well crafted biography. I was impressed by the very balanced representation of this complex person, and I think the author converted very well the pressures which he must have ensure in his years as president. I was also awed by the seemingly absolute honesty in which Lincoln carried himself - so rare to see this in our leaders in this day and age.
A good look at Lincoln's life that remains interesting despite its necessary length. I enjoyed learning about his early years and seeing how greatly they shaped him. He was really strong, largely self-taught, and great at managing people of opposing personalities/interests. It was good to learn about his weak points too, like being indecisive in many things and too lenient with people he liked. Lincoln's views on race and slavery were nuanced and he's often wrongly portrayed as either a champion of equal rights or a racist who used emancipation merely as a tool of war. He was neither. He was the best moral compass the country could have hoped for, dedicated to preserving the union during the greatest crisis it's ever faced.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
There are over 15,000 books written about Abraham Lincoln, with the exception to Jesus Christ the most written about one individual. There may be a book with more information about a part of Lincoln's life or several volumns written about Lincoln, but for a single volumn Mr. Donald's book Lincoln gives the best written informative text of the life of Abraham Lincoln. If you want specific information about Lincoln's death this isn't your best choice, if you want specific information about Lincoln's relationship with his General's during the Civil War this isn't your best choice, if you want early life of Lincoln or his relationship with his family this isn't what you want. But if you want the best one volumn book on Lincoln this gives you the best total story.