201 reviews for:

And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

Jon Meacham

4.41 AVERAGE

erintby's review

4.0

informative inspiring reflective sad

scnole2021's review against another edition

5.0

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

reads_by_rae's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

sarvs18's review

4.5

informative inspiring relaxing medium-paced

adamcshanks's review

4.5

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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While the author obviously holds reverence for Lincoln, this history is not sugarcoated. I appreciated the nuanced (but not painfully slow) review of an incredibly consequential life. For the first time in my life, I have a full picture of Lincoln's pragmatic approach to race at the time, which obviously doesn't hold up today. 

hedyd's review against another edition

5.0

informative medium-paced

janemarple's review against another edition

3.5

informative slow-paced

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Did we need another biography of Abraham Lincoln? No we did not. Is this a good biography? Yes, it is. Is the book too long? Oh my goodness yes! It’s a favorable deep dive into Lincoln and his life, but very well done. Besides the length, my only major issue with the book is Meecham’s penchant for minimizing and sugarcoating Lincoln’s widely published belief in white supremacy as “political expedience” or other such nonsense.

mamaorgana80's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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It’s the historian’s job to write without projecting modern sensibilities on figures from the past, and Meacham has done that so well here. To be so engaged with a book full of information that I mostly already knew is a testament to his storytelling. 

conroykl's review against another edition

4.75

informative inspiring fast-paced

bkbailey8521's review against another edition

4.0

informative inspiring medium-paced