LincolnSimon & Schuster, 1995 - 714 pages This fully rounded biography of America's sixteenth President is the product of Donald's half-century of study of Lincoln and his times. In preparing it, Donald has drawn more extensively than any previous writer on Lincoln's personal papers and those of his contemporaries, and he has taken full advantage of the voluminous newly discovered records of Lincoln's legal practice. He presents his findings with the same literary skill and psychological understanding exhibited in his previous biographies, which have received two Pulitzer Prizes. Much more than a political biography, Donald's Lincoln reveals the development of the future President's character and shows how his private life helped to shape his public career. In Donald's skillful hands, Lincoln emerges as a youthful, vigorous President. One of the youngest men ever to occupy the White House, he was also the husband of an even younger wife and the father of boisterous children. We witness how Lincoln's absorption with politics disrupted his family life, and how his often tumultuous marriage affected his political career. And we see a man renowned for his storytelling and his often sidesplitting humor lapse into the periods of deep melancholy to which he was prone, not only during the dark days of the Civil War but throughout his life. Donald's strikingly original portrait of Lincoln depicts a man who was basically passive by nature, who confessed that he did not control events but events had controlled him. Yet coupled with that fatalism was an unbounded ambition that drove him to take enormous political risks and enabled him to overcome repeated defeats. Donald shows that Lincoln was a master of ambiguity and expediency - but healso stresses that Lincoln was a great moral leader, inflexibly opposed to slavery and absolutely committed to preserving the Union. |
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Page 99
... never did become a devoted reader of general texts or theoretical books on the law . Years later Herndon claimed that Lincoln " never thor- oughly read any elementary law book . In fact ... I never knew him to read through and through ...
... never did become a devoted reader of general texts or theoretical books on the law . Years later Herndon claimed that Lincoln " never thor- oughly read any elementary law book . In fact ... I never knew him to read through and through ...
Page 132
... never still for a single moment . Never dried , never froze , never slept , never rested " —and here his pen stopped as he recognized that he was not good at this sort of thing . Later , when Herndon asked him what reflections he had ...
... never still for a single moment . Never dried , never froze , never slept , never rested " —and here his pen stopped as he recognized that he was not good at this sort of thing . Later , when Herndon asked him what reflections he had ...
Page 337
... never before . ” That statement perhaps told more about the lack of intimacy in the Lincoln marriage than it did about the President's state of mind . Since his election he had come increasingly to speak and think in religious terms ...
... never before . ” That statement perhaps told more about the lack of intimacy in the Lincoln marriage than it did about the President's state of mind . Since his election he had come increasingly to speak and think in religious terms ...
Contents
Preface | 13 |
ONE Annals of the Poor | 19 |
TWO A Piece of Floating Driftwood | 38 |
Copyright | |
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Abraham Lincoln administration American announced appeared army asked began believed cabinet called campaign candidate cause Chase Chicago command Confederate Congress Constitution continued convention County Court Davis debates defeat Democrats Douglas election emancipation favored felt followed force friends gave give Governor Grant hand Herndon Illinois important issue James John later letter looked major March Mary McClellan military moved needed never North offered party peace political position present President President's Press proclamation question Radicals received recognized reported Representatives Republican River Secretary seemed senator Seward slavery slaves South Southern speech Springfield Thomas thought tion told took Union United University urged vote wanted Washington Whig White House wrote York