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4.41 AVERAGE
4.41 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
"a Lincoln biography for our times."
Abraham Lincoln is one of my favorite historical characters of all and Jon Meacham is one of the greatest living popular historians. Bringing them together in this volume is a delightful opportunity to reassess. I could wish there was a little more personal take on Lincoln at times but Meacham is honest about what he hopes to achieve. Meacham's book is ostensibly an investigation into how Lincoln dealt with the great issue of his time and ours--white supremacy--and how his views on this evolved. It does a great job with this, but more interesting to me, personally, was Meacham's investigation of Lincoln's role in preserving democracy. In 1864, while the Civil War still raged, Lincoln never considered postponing the election. He also promised publicly that if he were defeated, he would relinquish power and cooperate with the President-Elect. He also arranged for Union soldiers to be able to vote either through the mail or to be given time off to go home to vote. When informed that some soldiers who were pro-McClellan (his opponent) were being denied paroles to go home to vote, he immediately arranged for them to go home, regardless of who they were voting for. Arguably the greatest crisis in American history, where another candidate's victory would have potentially spelled the end of the United States and it never occurred to Abraham Lincoln, that supposed wannabe dictator, to suspend or delay the election, or to fight the result. Fast forward to 2020--another time of crisis. A sitting President openly speculated about whether to delay the election, actively worked to deny access to the polls for millions of Americans, refused to publicly commit to a peaceful transfer of power, and then spent the interregnum period insisting he did not lose, refusing to cooperate with the President-elect and sicced his armed supporters on a Congress trying to do their duty under the Constitution. It's no coincidence that Trump's supporters carried Confederate flags into the Capitol that day. Our great presidents were committed to preserving American democracy. Our wannabe tyrant of 2017-2021 was only interested in preserving his own power. So what do we do now? Do we embrace the open pursuit of power for its own sake or do we listen to the better angels summoned by men like Abraham Lincoln? I know what Meacham is hoping. It is the same thing that I hope.
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
A marathon read that I decided to audiobook (a whopping 18 hours if on 1x) — but well worth the endeavor by the end. It was no means an exhaustive portrait of Lincoln personally, but it covers his religious, political, and racial equality views in much helpful detail, along with quoting from many of his writings, speeches, and documented interactions with others.
I felt it got quite bogged down with all the politics and religious philosophical debates in the middle (my biggest annoyance being the author's sniping in several places about how "God needed some help"?? Felt unnecessarily sacrilegious to me.)
So I got pretty bored at times till the beginnings of his presidency... But the ending made me happy I persevered.
I cheered for Lincoln's victories, shed tears for his losses and ultimate assassination, and am left wondering how different post-Civil-War America would have been, had he lived to see his reconstruction plans of Black suffrage, the Freedman's Bureau, and Southern land re-distribution realized. 💔 Perhaps so many long fought battles for civil rights could have been avoided altogether right then and there. But we shall never know.
(Makes me wanna punch Andrew Johnson in the nose come to think of it, not that that would have solved much... 😅)
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Overall, I enjoyed learning much more about Lincoln as a flawed but morally driven leader. And I plan to go on to read more from him, Frederick Douglass, and others who helped bring about the end of slavery in America.
I felt it got quite bogged down with all the politics and religious philosophical debates in the middle (my biggest annoyance being the author's sniping in several places about how "God needed some help"?? Felt unnecessarily sacrilegious to me.)
So I got pretty bored at times till the beginnings of his presidency... But the ending made me happy I persevered.
I cheered for Lincoln's victories, shed tears for his losses and ultimate assassination, and am left wondering how different post-Civil-War America would have been, had he lived to see his reconstruction plans of Black suffrage, the Freedman's Bureau, and Southern land re-distribution realized. 💔 Perhaps so many long fought battles for civil rights could have been avoided altogether right then and there. But we shall never know.
(Makes me wanna punch Andrew Johnson in the nose come to think of it, not that that would have solved much... 😅)
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Overall, I enjoyed learning much more about Lincoln as a flawed but morally driven leader. And I plan to go on to read more from him, Frederick Douglass, and others who helped bring about the end of slavery in America.
5/5. Read via Ebook.
“So why did Lincoln hold the line? Because he thought it was the right, just, and morally sound thing to do.”
A beautiful book about an incredible man. He grew and progressed in his beliefs and leadership as he listened and learned throughout his life and presidency. How lucky that a man was elected who was willing to change and grow.
W.E.B. Du Bois wrote it perfectly:
“I love him not because he was perfect but because he was not and yet triumphed. The world is full of illegitimate children. The world is full of folk whose taste was educated in the gutter. The world is full of people born hating and despising their fellows. To these I love to say: See this man. He was one of you and yet he became Abraham Lincoln.”
“So why did Lincoln hold the line? Because he thought it was the right, just, and morally sound thing to do.”
A beautiful book about an incredible man. He grew and progressed in his beliefs and leadership as he listened and learned throughout his life and presidency. How lucky that a man was elected who was willing to change and grow.
W.E.B. Du Bois wrote it perfectly:
“I love him not because he was perfect but because he was not and yet triumphed. The world is full of illegitimate children. The world is full of folk whose taste was educated in the gutter. The world is full of people born hating and despising their fellows. To these I love to say: See this man. He was one of you and yet he became Abraham Lincoln.”
informative
reflective
slow-paced
As a part of my work, I frequently get asked to make judgments about which biographies of Abraham Lincoln are better than others. The people asking this are almost always looking for a biography that spans the man's whole life. There are so many of these, that it is difficult to recommend one over the other. Jon Meacham's relatively new biography has been a popular choice, but without reading it, it has been hard to say how it compares to others. Having listened to the audiobook now, I can confidently say it is good but not transcendent. The book's strongest point is the balanced view it takes of Lincoln's actions and motivations. It shows his triumphs but notes the compromises and concessions. It shows his failures but notes the progress and the intent. It shows his celebrants as well as his detractors, and provides points of view on all sides both in good and bad faith. The book's unique angle pays special attention to his moral conviction and relationship with religion, but there is not enough of that to truly be the main topic. This is, through and through, a very traditional biography. The main point against it for me is that, for all of the balance it takes with Abraham Lincoln, it has absolutely no balance toward Mary Todd Lincoln. She is hardly in the book, and when she is it is almost always to discuss her as vindictive, power-hungry, and unstable. It doesn't come up much, but when it does, it is very, very jarring. Still, balanced appraisals of Lincoln's actions and legacy are surprisingly hard to come by. And in this way, it is a success and a recommendation
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced