Four Score and Seven New Books on Lincoln: A PW Reviews Roundup

-- Publishers Weekly, 1/12/2009

With the coming bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth (that’s February 12, 2009, for those counting), publishers are releasing even more new titles on the perennially popular Civil War president. Here’s a sample of 2008 and 2009's offerings:

What Would Lincoln Do?: Lincoln’s Most Inspired Solutions to Challenging Problems and Difficult Situations
David Acord. Sourcebooks, $13.99 (192p) ISBN 9781402217906
Acord, an editor, journalist and Lincoln enthusiast, has produced a delightful little book whose jokey title doesn’t do credit to the careful historical research within, including dozens of Lincoln’s letters in part and in whole. Acord cleverly turns Lincoln’s words into lessons on dealing with coworkers and demanding bosses, telling friends “no,” facing critics and responding to rumors, always carefully explaining Lincoln’s winning strategies. A beguiling writer as well as an embattled president, the Great Emancipator’s wit and patience served him well, whether writing to friend, foe, relative or underling. For example, his letter to political associate William Butler begins, “You were in an ill-humor when you wrote that letter, and, no doubt, intended that I should be thrown into one also; which, however, I respectfully decline being done.” Also included is Lincoln’s letter of advice to young lawyers, written in 1850, which famously closes, “if, in your own judgment, you can not be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer.” Such good advice is just one gem to be found in this practical and Presidential handbook. (Feb.)

1864: Lincoln and the Gates of History
Charles Bracelen Flood. Simon & Schuster, $30 (544p) ISBN 9781416552284
Critically acclaimed historian Flood (Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that Won the Civil War) provides a brilliant, compelling account of Lincoln’s dramatic final full year of life—a year in which the war finally turned in the Union’s favor and Lincoln faced a tough battle for re-election. After Union defeats at the Battle of Cold Harbor and the siege of Petersburg, Confederate General Jubal Early came within five miles of Washington, D.C., before he was beaten back; General Sherman’s September victory at Atlanta followed, with his bloody march to the sea. At the same time, Lincoln found himself running against his own secretary of the treasury, Salmon Chase, for the Republican nomination, and then against the Democrat (and general) George B. McClellan for the presidency. Lincoln won by a narrow popular majority, but a significant electoral majority. At the close of 1864, as Lincoln celebrated both his re-election and the coming end of the war, John Wilkes Booth laid down an ambitious plan for kidnapping that soon evolved into a map for murder. Combining a novelist’s flair with the authority and deep knowledge of a scholar, Flood artfully integrates this complex web of storylines. 16 pages of b&w photos, maps. (Feb.)

A. Lincoln: A Biography
Ronald C. White Jr . Random, $35 (816p) ISBN 9781400064991
In this excellent biography, veteran historian White emphasizes that Lincoln was our most likable major president, lacking Washington’s aloofness and the deviousness of FDR and Jefferson. Many young men from the frontier overcame the handicaps of poverty and minimal education, but, White says, Lincoln did better than most, becoming floor leader in the Illinois legislature by age 30 and a prosperous lawyer. Contrary to the common view that Lincoln was a dark-horse for the 1860 presidential nomination after a single, undistinguished term in the House of Representatives, White stresses that Lincoln was an experienced politician, popular throughout Illinois, and known to national leaders. Few Republicans thought they had chosen badly. The author makes good use of Lincoln’s voluminous private papers and those of his contemporaries to paint a vivid picture of Lincoln’s thoughts as he matured and then guided the nation through the four worst years of its existence. White knows his subject cold and writes lucid prose, so readers choosing this as their Lincoln bicentennial reading will not go wrong. Illus., maps, photos. (Jan.)

The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now
Edited by Harold Holzer. Library of America, $40 (1000p) ISBN 9781598530339
This hefty Library of America anthology, edited by Lincoln scholar Holzer (co-chairman of the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission), is a solid compilation of work on Abraham Lincoln from a diverse selection of writers in various genres, celebrating his extensive legacy and providing insight from a number of angles and time periods. From William Cullen Bryant’s introduction of the little-known Illinois Republican at Cooper Union in Manhattan to Barack Obama’s 2007 presidential candidacy announcement (made on Lincoln’s birthday at Springfield’s Old State Capitol, where Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech), Holzer follows the president’s legacy through marquee names like Whitman, Hawthorne, Tolstoy, Marx, Churchill and Doctorow. Including a helpful index and a chronology of Lincoln’s life, this voluminous, thorough collection will keep Lincoln fans reading well past the beloved president’s upcoming bicentennial. (Jan.)



Abraham Lincoln
George McGovern. Times, $22 (192p) ISBN 9780805083453
There’s probably not much left to learn about Lincoln’s life, but the flood of bicentennial studies attest that he apparently still has things to teach us. In this modest, fluent bio, part of the American Presidents Series, former Democratic senator and presidential nominee McGovern (Social Security and the Golden Age) finds an inspiring lesson in what a man can do with his life. McGovern’s Lincoln is a smart, ambitious striver who overcame humble origins, repeated setbacks and spells of depression. He is an idealist who, though burdened with the racial prejudices of his day, embraced the principle of equal opportunity. Most resonantly for the author, he is a brilliant politician who, combining pragmatism with high purpose, steered a crooked course through ugly political realities to end the intractable curse of slavery. Some of McGovern’s judgments, like his overstated depiction of Lincoln as an exponent of “total war,” miss the mark, and his subject remains something of a paragon. (His chief complaint is about Lincoln’s wartime suspensions of habeas corpus and press freedoms.) Still, when McGovern’s lucid homage concludes. “We wish our leaders could be more like [Lincoln]; we wish we all could be,” readers are likely to agree. Photos. (Jan.)

Mrs. Lincoln: A Life
Catherine Clinton. Harper, $26.95 (432p) ISBN 9780060760403
Any biographer of Mary Lincoln has a tough act to follow in Jean H. Baker’s groundbreaking and definitive Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography, published two decades ago and reissued in paperback in 2008. Queens University (Belfast) history professor Clinton (Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom) fails to rise to the occasion. For starters, the book seems to have no raison d’être: Clinton offers no revisionist interpretation and has uncovered no new sources. Add to this Clinton’s annoying style, such as a penchant for ESP, narrating Mary Lincoln’s thoughts through various key moments in her life, such as this upon the day in April, 1865, when her husband triumphantly visited the Confederate capital of Richmond: “Mary found a sense of serenity that was distinctly new and uncharacteristic … she imagined that she might be reconciled with those alienated….” The author also too frequently paraphrases the contents of diaries and letters, without quoting them directly. Although Clinton’s book provides an adequate summary of an important life, readers can find a far more than adequate rendition elsewhere. B&w illus. (Jan.)

“They Have Killed Papa Dead!”: The Road to Ford’s Theatre, Abraham Lincoln’s Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance
Anthony S. Pitch. Steerforth, $29.95 (512p) ISBN 9781586421588
Small details often clog a narrative, but here they fill out the tale of one of the most consequential events of American history—the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. While Pitch (The Burning of Washington) relies somewhat too heavily on hearsay reports of conversations that no one can fully credit, he has mined every resource, read every book, and turned up some documents that had escaped others. More important, he’s found new evidence that Lincoln was under genuine threat as early as the eve of his first inauguration, not just after his second one. The result is a fast-moving telling of the multiple plots on Lincoln’s life, the implementation of the successful one, its complex aftermath and the way it threw the nation into deep mourning and despair. No reader will come away unmoved, even at this distance, by anguish about the event. The author elicits our feelings for even the plotters in captivity and on the scaffold. A real page-turner about real history. Illus. (Dec. 2008)

Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon
Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt and Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., foreword by David Herbert Donald, intro by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Knopf, $50 (512p) ISBN 9780307267139
The Kunhardts use the family’s vast collection of Lincoln photographs, started in the late 19th century by Frederick Hill Meserve, combined with concise commentary and valuable first-hand accounts, to illustrate Lincoln’s postmortem life. The Kunhardts trace the circuitous route by which the assassinated head of state morphed into a cherished figure as much of myth as of history. The profusely and beautifully illustrated volume—the companion to a PBS special to air in winter 2009—is loaded with rarities: never before seen letters, photos from the 1901 unearthing and re-interment of Lincoln’s remains, and first-hand reminiscences from numerous Lincoln intimates, all of them rich with telling detail about the man. Fascinating anecdotes abound, such as Robert Lincoln’s shunning of the dedication of the memorial housing the presumed Lincoln birth cabin, which he said commemorated nothing but the “degradation and uncleanliness” of his father’s humble beginnings. All in all, the Kunhardts’ book represents a visual and literary feast for all devotees of the sacred national idol that is Lincoln. 910 color photos and illus. (Nov. 2008)

Abraham Lincoln: Great American Historians on Our Sixteenth President
Edited by Brian Lamb and Susan Swain. Public Affairs, $27.95 (400p) ISBN 9781586486761
For the 2009 bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth C-SPAN host Lamb and C-SPAN president Swain offer this cornucopia of observations from such notables as Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Herbert Donald, Harold Holzer, Merrill Peterson, Richard Norton Smith, and James McPherson—all culled from and edited from interviews onC-SPAN’s Booknotes, In Depth and other programs. Topics range from Lincoln’s boyhood to his role as commander-in-chief, his assassination and his place as a cultural icon. Although sprinkled with interesting insights, this miscellany suffers a bit from its diversity, delivering a portrait of Lincoln that is at once fragmented and redundant. Not all these historians talk as well as they write. Nor do their comments always blend well.Dividing the book thematically in sections entitled “Log Cabin to White House,” (a “Wartime President,” “Character,” and “In Memory.” This approach lends some coherence, but the result is nevertheless uneven. True Lincoln aficionados will probably find this collection of comments—filled as they are with cogent details and knowledgeable appraisals—quite intriguing and engaging. However, general readers will miss having an informed, integrated, linear presentation of Lincoln’s complex and often troubled story. 16 pages of color photos; maps. (Nov. 2008)

Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass & Abraham Lincoln
John Stauffer. Twelve, $30 (432p) ISBN 9780446580090
This illuminating story of the often fraught relations between two great Americans, though the conceit of parallel lives adds little to the main storyline. Both rose from humble circumstances to become men of great power and historical significance. Stauffer, a Harvard professor of English and the history of American civilization (The Black Heats of Men), effectively captures the predicaments of the two men, both trapped by the day’s prejudices, both struggling to free themselves and the American people from the shackles of racism. Douglass, in Stauffer’s telling, had the straighter challenge: gaining freedom for himself and his people. Lincoln was tossed about by his own racism, the requirements of politics and leadership, and the huge burdens of the Civil War. The nub of the tale is their guarded view of each other, the slow growth of their mutual admiration. Both wisely using each other, each came to see the greatness in the other, even though Douglass was never fully reconciled to Lincoln’s emergence as champion of emancipation. This story, already well known (and told earlier this year in Paul Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick’s Douglass and Lincoln), gains fresh color in Stauffer’s swift-moving, stylish account. Illus. (Nov. 2008)

Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point: Getting Right with the Declaration of Independence
Lewis E. Lehrman. Stackpole, $29.95 (432p) ISBN 9780811703611
In this careful, balanced look at Abraham Lincoln’s stirring 1854 Peoria, Ill., speech, writer and historian Lehrman finds a “prelude to greatness” that put the little-known lawyer and politician on the path to national prominence while laying the intellectual groundwork for his presidency. The subject was slavery, already the great question of 19th century America, recently reignited with the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act that repealed earlier anti-slavery laws for certain new territories. Arguing that the fundamental principles of the Declaration of Independence extended to African-Americans, Lincoln took an abolitionist position daring for any politician with national ambitions (though he did not go so far as to advocate for full social or political equality). Lehrman also considers Lincoln's Illinois nemesis, Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, sponsor of the new Kansas-Nebraska Act who spoke at Peoria before Lincoln as a stalwart booster of “the rights of whites to enslave blacks.” Ably building on the drama of Lincoln’s anti-slavery efforts through subsequent years, culminating in his ascent to the presidency, Lehrman's detailed chronicle, rich in first-person accounts, lays out the case that from his earliest public forays, Lincoln was no ordinary leader. (Oct. 2008)

The Last Lincolns: The Rise and Fall of a Great American Family
Charles Lachman. Sterling/Union Square, $24.95 (512p) ISBN 9781402758904
Lachman, a novelist (In the Name of the Law) and executive producer of the TV newsmagazine Inside Edition, offers a fascinating and well-researched family history that documents the af traumatic impact of Lincoln’s assassination on his family and, the Lincoln legacy. A skilled storyteller, Lachman recreates the high-spirited play and pranks of the Lincoln children, as well as the grief and despair that echoed through the White House corridors after the death of Lincoln’s son Willie at age 12. Lachman paints an intimate portrait of Mary Lincoln, who never forgave her son Robert for sending her to a mental institution in 1875. Remaining chapters trace the sad situations and downward spiral of dysfunctional descendants through the 20th century, ending with the last of the Lincoln line, great-grandson Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, who died in 1985. The scheme of Beckwith’s chauffeur, con man Jack Coffelt, to defraud the Lincoln trust of millions is covered in the final pages, along with the startling speculation that Coffelt could have been the infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper. 16 page of b&w photos. (Oct. 2008)

Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World
Eric Foner. Norton, $25.95 (256p) ISBN 9780393067569
Compiling essays from an array of Lincoln scholars, the latest from professor and author Foners (Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction) seeks the most overlooked corners of Abraham Lincolns' life in order to illuminate his perspectives on topics like race, religion, politics and family. Divided into overlapping sections on Lincoln as president, emancipator, man and memory, Foner includes Harold Holzer (Lincoln at Cooper Union) on Lincoln and the arts (“as student, subject, and patron”), James Oakes (The Radical and the Republican) taking “another look at Lincoln and race,” Catherine Clinton (a biographer of Mary Todd) on his family life and David W. Blight (A Slave No More) on Lincoln’s appropriation, for good and bad, by political, corporate and scholarly entities. Lincolns' complex personality emerges slowly and satisfyingly in these spotlight essays, but the “new perspectives” Foner promises aren’t quite as fresh as history buffs may hope. Still, any casual reader should learn much from this modestly eclectic selection. (Oct. 2008)

The Great Comeback: How Abraham Lincoln Beat the Odds to Win the 1860 Republican Nomination
Gary Ecelbarger. St. Martin’s/ Dunne, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 9780312374136
During Lincoln’s one term as a Whig in the House of Representatives (1847-49), he alienated colleagues by opposing the popular president James Polk and the equally popular Mexican War. Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon said that when he returned to Illinois, Lincoln was “a politically dead and buried man.” Not long after, joining the new Republican Party, Lincoln twice lost bids for a Senate seat and failed an 1856 reach for the Republican vice presidential nomination. Independent scholar Ecelbarger (Three Days in the Shenandoah) artfully shows how, from a career in cinders, Lincoln rose in a mere two years to seize the presidential nomination in May 1860. Ecelbarger describes diligent work and ground-laying by Lincoln and various allies. Ecelbarger ralso eveals a ravenously ambitious Lincoln whistle-stopping across America, railing against the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and making a national reputation. More to the point, we see Lincoln as smooth backroom political operator, wooing reluctant eastern Republicans wary of the man they’d considered a political loser and ill-kempt backwoods attorney. Ecelbarger’s scholarship is sound, his prose enthralling and his topic one that has not previously received due diligence in the Lincoln literature. (Sept. 2008)

Vindicating Lincoln: Defending the Politics of our Greatest President
Thomas L. Krannawitter. Rowman & Littlefield, $24.95 (372p) ISBN 9780742559721
Author and professor Krannawitter (A Nation Under God? The ACLU and Religion in American Politics) has written a stirring, carefully considered exploration of Abraham Lincoln’s principles, defending them against criticism leveled at Lincoln over the years by prominent academics and pundits. Even though Krannawitter equates opposition to Roe v. Wade with opposition to slavery (both deny the primacy of human rights), his strident personal politics don’t affect the quality of his scholarship. His impressive work takes on both conservative and liberal historians who diminish Lincoln’s stature by ascribing expedient motives to his decisions, asserting that Lincoln was guided, even in “the most difficult and trying times,” by a commitment to natural law and the idea that all men are created equal. Especially convincing is Krannawitter’s argument regarding Lincoln’s seemingly paradoxical support of the fugitive slave law. He also explains Lincoln’s famous 1862 interchange with Horace Greely—yes, he did say, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it,” but followed up with, “and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it”—and takes on the contention that Lincoln supported big government while the South opposed it. (Aug. 2008)

Rebel Giants: The Revolutionary Lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin
David R. Contosta. Prometheus, $26.95 (350p) ISBN 9781591026105
On February 12, 2009, numerous observances, conferences and books will celebrate the bicentennials of two major 19th-century figures: Lincoln and Darwin. Historian Contosta (Henry Adams and His World) uses the coincidence of their shared birth date as the basis for a thin, sophomoric comparison of the two men. Both, according to Contosta, introduced paradigm shifts in how people thought about humanity, whether human dignity or our place in the natural world; both men struggled against attempts, such as slavery, to dehumanize people. And both were self-made men: Lincoln in the more usual sense of the term, Darwin because he rejected the path his father had chosen and found his own calling. At first glance, the author notes, Lincoln and Darwin are very different: the former from a frontier family who had little formal education; the latter, from a wealthy family, graduated from Cambridge. Yet they both lost their mothers at an early age; both struggled with doubts about religion, were ambitious and had quick minds. But Contosta mainly catalogues these differences and similarities without delving deeply into their significance, yielding no new insights into these two well-known lives. (Apr. 2008)

Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader and a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery and Save the Union
Paul Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick. Walker, $26.95 (320p) ISBN 9780802715234
Paul Kendrick, assistant director of the Harlem Childrens Zone, and his father, Stephen, a Boston minister (coauthors of Sarah’s Long Walk, about Bostons free blacks) give a thorough look at two unlikely allies. Lincoln began as a white supremacist who saw Douglass as an exception to the rule of black inferiority. What is more, his first priority was the preservation of the Union. The onetime slave Douglass, on the other hand, stood uncompromisingly for complete emancipation, to be followed by full and equal citizenship. He further held that the Civil Wars massive carnage could only be redeemed by the annihilation of the peculiar institution. Despite their mutual respect, the two men had only three face-to-face meetings, just two of these in private. Thus, this study of Douglass, Lincoln and their relationship is chiefly a discussion of evolving rhetoric, primarily Lincolns on such topics as emancipation, black service in the Union ranks and black suffrage, and how his views initially contrasted with, but were eventually influenced by, Douglasss fiery arguments in public speeches and newspaper editorials. This is a workmanlike narrative of the same story recently explored by James Oakes in his critically praised The Radical and the Republican. (Feb. 2008)