Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln

by Douglas L. Wilson

Book Overview

Abraham Lincoln's remarkable emergence from the rural Midwest and his rise to the presidency have been the stuff of romance and legend. But as Douglas L. Wilson shows us in Honor's Voice, Lincoln's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067940788X
• ISBN13: 9780679407881
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 383 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Lincoln the amazing human being comes through

Not a book for the casual Lincoln reader, but if you'll devote the time to it, you'll get a much more complex and well-rounded view of Lincoln's strengths and weaknesses than what comes from standard biographies.

An Excellent Examination of Lincoln's Early Adulthood

This book is an exemplary view of Abraham Lincoln's young adulthood in New Salem and Springfield between 1831 and 1842. The book begins with an introduction, than an explanation about the evidence that the historian of Lincoln's early life must sift through, and then it examines such important and interesting elements of Lincoln's early adulthood life as his numerous failed experiences with women, the tension between his honorable and ambitious external life and his tendency to mock religion and insult political enemies in his private life, as well as his professional successes and failures as he began his political life. This book is an excellent resource to any fan of Lincoln and any history student curious about the early life and formative years of Lincoln's political education. The book is easy to read and provides many fascinating quotations of personal letters that provide an aid to the authenticity of the author's occasionally startling claims.

One of the best books on rhetoric and on Lincoln

Honor's Voice is terrific in two respects: both for its insights into Lincoln and for its insights into effective communication. I recommend it to anyone who uses words for a living, and for anyone who wants a fascinating, insightful look into how Lincoln crafted some of the most important speeches in our nation's history.

A brilliant examination of Lincoln's pre-presidential years.

This book staggered me. Its careful research is combined with acute observations by author Wilson, on topics ranging from a fateful wrestling match that made Lincoln's reputation in a frontier village to Lincoln's bewilderment when courting Mary Todd. Wilson here produced one of the finest volumes ever to appear in the crowded field of Lincoln books. For anyone interested in how Lincoln's pre-presidential years shaped his conduct in the White House, Honor's Voice will be rewarding. It is one of the most significant Lincoln biographies I have ever read.

Not the first Lincoln book to read, but unique, and one of the best

The reason this shouldn't be the first Lincoln book you read is that the author presupposes that the reader already has a basic command of Lincoln's life story. This book really speaks to those who are familiar with the various bits of Lincoln lore that permeate our culture: his wrestling match with Jack Armstrong, his courtship of Ann Rutledge, his off-and-on-again relationship with Mary Todd, and various accounts of his bookishness, his depression, and his early flirtations with agonisticism, among others. Having said that, I like this book more than any of the standard Lincoln biographies I own (I have the Thomas, Donald, and Sandburg bios.) The very best thing to read, of course, is Lincoln himself (his collected speeches and writings), but of the biographies written by others, this may be my favorite. The author dissects several of Lincoln's often-told formative experiences. In one example, he will explore the story of the wrestling match with Jack Armstrong, and ask: -- When is the earliest surviving account of the story, and what is the source? -- How has the story evolved over the years? -- How true is it? What does the evidence show? -- What is the significance of the story? For those who don't know the Jack Armstrong story, it is basically as follows: Lincoln was getting harassed by a gang of toughs in his town, and to deal with it, he challenged their leader, Jack Armstrong, to a wrestling match. The match was widely anticipated and witnessed, and Lincoln had the better of Armstrong. Afterwards, Armstrong restrained his allies, saying that Lincoln had won fair and square, and afterwards, he was a loyal friend to Lincoln, as were his associates. Like so many stories in the Lincoln canon, it's become a parable. It is a lesson about courage and forthrightness and insisting on fair play. In Lincoln's case, it also fills out the legend about his own physical strength, and how he became popular in his home town. Wilson's book analyzes many such stories. The anecdotes have varying degrees of truth, though on balance, most of the standard Lincoln tales do appear to be based in fact, even if they have become embellished over the years. You will like this book if you already enjoy the history of Lincoln, and if you like a little skeptical scientific inquiry thrown into your reading material. The reader is asked to travel along with the author as he gets to the bottom of the various issues surrounding Lincoln, and it's an enjoyable journey. I personally feel that this book is much more pleasant than as a mere exercise in critical history. I found that the dissection of these stories brought Lincoln much more fully to life for me. You get a much more multi-faceted view of the man because you aren't really relying on one author's perspective, as tends to be the case in other Lincoln biographies. It's an unusual work of history, and not the first Lincoln book to read, but it truly is outstanding. Highly recommended.