Abraham Lincoln: A Life
by Michael Burlingame
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael BurlingameEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Box set
Published: 2008-12-10
ISBN: 0801889936
Number of pages: 2024
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Book Reviews of Abraham Lincoln: A Life
Book Review: A magnificent effort
Summary: 5 Stars
Many valuable additions to the ever-expanding collection of books written about Abraham Lincoln have already appeared in this, the bicentennial year of his birth, and many undoubtedly will follow. At least one of them, Michael Burlingame's two-volume set "Abraham Lincoln: A Life," will likely be viewed as one of the classics in the years and decades ahead.
Many full life biographies continue to be written about Lincoln. Many more yet focus on various aspects of his life or personal qualities. Others address how he relates to specific events or ideas of the era in which he lived. There has not been a multi-volume biography written on him in decades. While that alone speaks both to its value and uniqueness, the vast amount of information relating to Lincoln's life that has been uncovered since then puts this one in a category all its own.
I would be surprised if any Lincoln scholar anywhere has done more to uncover previously unknown material relative to Lincoln's life than Burlingame. He has shared results of his research for countless other books written on Lincoln in recent years as is shown by the large number of acknowledgments he has received from other grateful authors. It's only fitting that he be the one to produce what will likely be acknowledged as the definitive work on Lincoln.
The first volume covers Lincoln's life through his Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois years. The second begins with him boarding the train as he departs Springfield, his home for the previous twenty or so years and one to which he'll never return, for Washington. While the book proceeds more or less chronologically as one would expect, it is effectively subdivided into countless mini-chapters - typically a few pages each - where various important facets of Lincoln's life or historical events are developed in detail.
What makes Burlingame's offering so unique? Clearly part of it is its length but vastly more important is what he's been able to do with the freedom that comes from the liberties it affords. I suppose any persevering researcher could uncover enough material to fill over 1500 pages of text but that's only the beginning as it pertains to this book. I suspect he has discarded more material than he used and what he's retained is presented in both an authoritative and logical way. He uses innumerable direct quotes - often presenting the views of those on several sides of an issue (with the issue often being Lincoln himself) - and he then proceeds to tie them together in a coherent way. Virtually everything is attributed to source; there are several hundred pages of endnotes.
The result is a book that portrays Lincoln as no other book written before. New information abounds throughout. Lincoln is presented in a candid, objective way. Warts are not suppressed and the net effect is to portray the most human Abraham Lincoln imaginable. Burlingame was also not afraid to provide his own take on Lincoln as well as his wife Mary and many others and it is clear when he is doing so. He provides enough rationale as to enable the reader to form his or her own opinion.
The net effect of all this has been to enable me to feel as though I know Lincoln in a way I never have. I have read numerous books including all the `acclaimed' ones on Lincoln over the past thirty years. I felt I had a pretty good understanding of the basics involving the `whats' of his life. These volumes have done much to enlarge it and often extended it to the `hows' and the `whys.'
Few reading this will come away from the experience with anything but even more respect for Lincoln than they had previously. I will refrain from describing Lincoln's many attributes as they're well known from elsewhere but I will offer my opinion that it will be the rare reader who won't better appreciate the country's good fortune in having him at the helm when he was. I suspect they will also realize as never before the odds he faced and overcame, the depth of the ridicule and scorn he so often received and his almost superhuman ability to remain above it all. Our country was the beneficiary.
This is a wonderful addition to the set of knowledge pertaining to Lincoln and his - and the country's - times. It is something anybody with an interest in Lincoln will want to read whether they be serious students of the man or simply desirous of wanting to learn more.
Summary of Abraham Lincoln: A Life
In the first multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln to be published in decades, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame offers a fresh look at the life of one of America?s greatest presidents. Incorporating the field notes of earlier biographers, along with decades of research in multiple manuscript archives and long-neglected newspapers, this remarkable work will both alter and reinforce current understanding of America?s sixteenth president.
Volume 1 covers Lincoln?s early childhood, his experiences as a farm boy in Indiana and Illinois, his legal training, and the political ambition that led to a term in Congress in the 1840s. In volume 2, Burlingame examines Lincoln?s life during his presidency and the Civil War, narrating in fascinating detail the crisis over Fort Sumter and Lincoln?s own battles with relentless office seekers, hostile newspaper editors, and incompetent field commanders. Burlingame also offers new interpretations of Lincoln?s private life, discussing his marriage to Mary Todd and the untimely deaths of two sons to disease.
But through it all?his difficult childhood, his contentious political career, a fratricidal war, and tragic personal losses?Lincoln preserved a keen sense of humor and acquired a psychological maturity that proved to be the North?s most valuable asset in winning the Civil War.
Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, this landmark publication establishes Burlingame as the most assiduous Lincoln biographer of recent memory and brings Lincoln alive to modern readers as never before.
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