Abraham Lincoln [Hardcover]

During the last several months, I have begun to read or re-read a number of biographies of Abraham Lincoln and recently finished two, this one and Ronald C. White, Jr.'s A. Lincoln. How different they are in terms of length as well as their scope and depth of coverage and yet they will, I am certain, attract and reward an abundance of appreciative readers. As James M. McPerson explains in his Preface, "I have written a lot about Abraham Lincoln in my career. [His most recently published work is Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief.] Others have written more. During this bicentennial commemoration of his birth, a large number of excellent biographies and other books about Lincoln have appeared and continued to appear. [Note: McPherson has praised White's A. Lincoln for it's `brilliant analysis of Lincoln's principal speeches and writing' and for his analysis `of Lincoln's evolving religious convictions, which shaped the core of his effective leadership, his moral integrity.' That's high praise indeed.] Most of these are substantial works; one definitive multivolume biography runs well over a million works. Amid this cascade of information, I believe there is room for a brief biography that captures the essential events and meaning of Lincoln's life without oversimplification or overgeneralization. This is what I have tried to do in the following pages."

I urge those who are curious about this book not to be deterred by its length of only 65 pages, plus Notes and Bibliography. McPherson was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for writing The Battle Cry of Freedom and may well receive another for Tried by War. He succeeds again brilliantly when achieving his chief objectives for this brief biography. Although the narrative is lively throughout, I never had the feeling that I was being rushed from one key period in Lincoln's life to another. I especially appreciate McPherson's frequent provision of what I view as summary insights that combine several key points. For example, during the years in New Salem, Lincoln developed "a purpose and direction": he joined the debating society, developed a lifelong love of William Shakespeare and Robert Burns, and also acquired a passion for politics and announced his candidacy for the Illinois state legislature in 1832. "Although he failed to win the election, he received 92 percent of the votes in the New Salem district, where he was known. When he ran again in 1834, he campaigned throughout the county and won decisively." Lincoln's devotion to learning and especially to self-improvement continued until his death.

Here in Dallas, we have an area near downtown called the Farmers Market where several vendors offer a complimentary slice of fresh fruit so that people can have at least a taste of what is offered. In that spirit, I thought it would be of interest to those who read this review to sample an excerpt from the final chapter of McPherson's book that is representative of the quality of his analysis and the eloquence of his prose. Note how skillfully he addresses critically important issues "without oversimplification or overgeneralization."

"Union victory in the Civil War resolved two fundamental, festering problems that had been unresolved by the revolution of 1776 and the Constitution of 1787. The first problem was the survival of the republic as one nation, indivisible. The republic established by the Founders was a fragile experiment in a world bestrode by kings, queens, emperors, czars, dictators, and theories of aristocracy...The second problem left unresolved by the events of 1776 and 1787 was the issue of slavery. By the second quarter of the nineteenth century, a nation founded on a charter that declared all people deserving of the inalienable rights of liberty had become the largest slaveholding nation in the world. This was the `monstrous injustice' that made the United States s monument of hypocrisy in the eyes of the world, as Lincoln had expressed it in 1854. With the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln started the United States on the road to living up to its professed belief that all men are created equal."

For those interested in obtaining a brief and entertaining but comprehensive and historically sound discussion of the 16th President of the United States, here it is.

very short, good if you don't know much about him and want an introduction, but there's not much to get your teeth into

I found the book excellent. It let me enter the world of Lincoln in a simple format. Thank you.