Lincoln

by David Herbert Donald

Book Overview

A masterful work by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Herbert Donald, Lincoln is a stunning portrait of Abraham Lincoln's life and presidency.Donald brilliantly depicts Lincoln's gradual ascent from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684808463
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 714 Pages
• Weight: 2.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.8" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

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Lincoln the man, not the myth

David Herbert Donald accomplishes with this biography the difficult goal of presenting Lincoln as a character at once thoroughly ordinary and exceptional. Although millions of words have been written about his subject, Lincoln remains shrouded in myth for many of us, but a reading of this fine biography parts those mists and reveals that the sixteenth president is not difficult to understand or relate to, onerous as his burdens may have been to bear. Donald's prose is as plain-spoken as the words favored by Lincoln, but that is not to say that it is ordinary. On the contrary: Donald's mastery of his subject allows him to write with exceptional clarity and admirable dispassion. While it is clear that on balance Donald greatly admires Lincoln, he never glorifies him. He is critical, for example, of Lincoln the Whig's occasional taste for demagogery in his partisan attacks on the rival Democratic Party early in his political career. In analyzing Lincoln's writings and speeches, he doesn't shy away from pointing out flaws and speciousness in their reasoning. The book is also valuable for its ability to present landmarks in Lincoln's career in a clearer light. The best example of this is the recounting of the famous series of debates in pursuit of a Senate seat between Lincoln and his primary rival of the time, Stephen Douglas. History, particularly as it is taught in high school, often presents these debates as lofty philosophical interchanges between the two on slavery, individual rights and the nature of liberty. Donald's careful analysis of each of the seven debates shows that while they contained moments of high drama and keen insight, they were all dragged down by petty attacks -- on both sides -- repetitive arguments and occasional poorly prepared remarks. Similarly, Donald points out a fact that is often forgotten: while Lincoln deplored slavery on moral grounds, he never believed that African-Americans were the equal of whites on any level. In fact, the author is quite critical of Lincoln's stubborn adherence to the idea that blacks could be relocated to Africa -- one that he held on to far longer than it merited, if indeed it ever did. The most intriguing and insightful portions of the book center on Lincoln's presidency, for which he was wholly unprepared, by his own admission. While many of us are aware in a general sense that Lincoln was under great pressure during his first term as a wartime president, Donald dramatizes the difficulties in great detail, bringing to life the nearly unbearable weight that Lincoln bore in trying to juggle the demands of a highly disputatious cabinet, a stubbornly unresponsive military leadership, and a Republican Party that was in many cases more hostile to him than were the Democrats. Lincoln's final success in bringing the war to a successful conclusion -- albeit at staggering human and financial cost -- is all the more satisfying and poignant for Donald's attention to the four years of disappointm

Fascinating look at Lincoln, the man

"Lincoln" is a remarkable look at Abraham Lincoln as he advanced from extremely poor, rural roots, in what was then the western United States, into both the Illinois legislature and the U.S. Congress for one term, through a career as a self-taught lawyer, and finally to the presidency. The author has extensively researched Lincoln's movements, first-hand accounts of his utterances, his formal speeches and writings, as well as official records kept in the discharge of his various duties and offices. It is a fascinating look at the evolution of the character and personality of a man of meager origins and virtually no formal education. Lincoln was driven to make something of himself; this is best seen in his insatiable desire to educate himself. Beyond self-development, Lincoln had an inherent ability to relate to others. He combined humility with a great ability to tell stories. This ease among his fellow citizens led to his being elected to the Illinois legislature at a fairly young age and to a reasonably successful career as a lawyer.Lincoln was a Whig and devotee of Henry Clay and his American system of internal improvements. But it would be completely wrong to regard Lincoln as mostly an opportunistic politician. He was principled, if anything. Manipulating a political view to get elected would have never occurred to Lincoln. Furthermore, Lincoln was a man of his word. When elected to Congress in 1846, he returned home after one term as he promised, though undoubtedly he could have been re-elected. However, the author shows that Lincoln became very astute politically with a substantial network of political friends both at the state and national levels.Early in Lincoln's career, slavery was seldom an issue. But by the mid-1850s, slavery came to dominate the political and social life of the country. Lincoln, though clearly antislavery, was not an abolitionist. In his debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858 and on his way to being elected president in 1860, Lincoln articulated, often eloquently, a moderate position on slavery that resonated with a large segment of Northern voters. The extension of slavery to new territories became the foremost issue of the day as compared to eradication.Lincoln was probably not technically qualified to be president; he had never held an administrative post of any importance. Nor did hundreds of high-level administrative assistants perform most of his duties, as is the case in the modern era. In addition, Lincoln faced perhaps the greatest challenge that any president in our history ever has. The secession of the South exacerbated political divides in the country. Not only did Lincoln have to deal with radical and moderate Republicans and War and Peace Democrats, but also his own cabinet, populated with some of his political rivals, exhibited the same sort of splits. Militarily, the U.S. was totally unprepared to put down a rebellion, as Lincoln called it, of the size that the Confederacy represented. He was often dr

As free of biases as one could imagine

Before reading _Lincoln_, I had read David McCullough's _John Adams_. The latter is good but nonetheless unsatisfying, because McCullough clearly worships Adams. (See my review of McCullough's book.) I went right into _Lincoln_. All I can say is that it's astonishing.The organizing principle of _Lincoln_ makes Donald's job very hard. When Donald met JFK during the latter's presidency, Kennedy attacked historians for retrospectively judging the worth of presidents. Historians, said Kennedy, had no right to make such judgments until they sat in the presidential desk and had to make the tough decisions.Donald wrote _Lincoln_ in an attempt to honor Kennedy's wishes, and he more than succeeded. Every sentence in _Lincoln_ is guided by the question, ``What did Lincoln know at the time he made this decision? What information did he have on hand? What could he have been reasonably expected to know? Why did he make this decision?" At no moment does Donald judge Lincoln - he is a scrupulous researcher, not historiography's answer to God.Through this biography, we learn that Lincoln was very human. He made mistakes. Not only did he mess up, but Donald makes it clear that he wasn't always as revered as he is today. Through newspaper clippings, diary entries, and hundreds of other primary sources, Donald paints a picture of a man who very nearly lost the Union as well as his second term. Only through skillful politicking did Lincoln neutralize his enemies and get reelected.I came into this book curious how Lincoln moved from his first inaugural address, during which he said I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.to his second inaugural: If God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."This is, naturally, a question that any Lincoln biographer would have to answer (if only by citing someone else who answered it). Donald does a fantastic job of answering this question without ever stating the answer outright. He merely describes the events of Lincoln's life, and lets the reader figure it out. The answer is clear: Lincoln had a fine line to walk between the abolitionists of his party and its less extreme members. At the same time, his main goal was to preserve the Union - whether or not slavery came with it. But as time went on, the political situation got easier to navigate, and Lincoln became more comfortable in his role as a leader. The evolution from one political landscape to another is vital to the answer, and Donald does a masterful job painting us a picture.Yet never did I feel as though an hist

Superb account of 16th President

Recently, I picked up David Herbert Donald's biography of Abraham Lincoln for the second time in 4 years. I now realize that I was too young then to appreciate this superb account of the our 16th President. Inspired by a meeting with President Kennedy in whick JFK criticizes historians for judging presidents who must make decisions without the 20/20 hindsight of historians, Donald undertook to write this biography from Lincoln's perspective -- analyzing him and his decisions based upon only what Lincoln knew, believed, and sought to accomplish at the time. We see the great struggles of the mid-1800s completely through his eyes; thus, while Donald doesn't delve into what (I'm sure) are fascinating related subjects, like the details of the great military campaigns or internal Confederate politics, we do gain an insightful look into the life and character of America's greatest president.I agree with other reviewers that while there is not enough of Lincoln's personal life -- at times I had to remind myself that the man even had kids! -- Donald still skillfully paints a portrait of an amazingly complex man. Fueled by a desire to escape the fate of his uneducated, unambitious father, Lincoln felt driven all of his life to succeed ; he felt pushed forward to a great destiny by God, or the "Doctrine of Neccsity",that was completely out of his control and would lead him safely down life's path. He was an incredibly charming man who could light up a room with his energy, but he also regularly plunged into a deep and dark depression. He was utterly self-confident and knew he was the equal of any man. Intitially a moderate who opposed abolishing slavery in the states, he slowly realized that either slavery would be destroyed, or the Union surely would be.He was also a master politician. He sensed early on in the 1840s that the nation was on the brink of a new era and that the Whig party had to adapt to the changing times, or die. After his beloved Whig party disintegrated, he helped establish the IL Republican party and, after an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1858, triumphed over well-known and powerful opponents like William Seward and Salmon Chase to win the presidential nomination and election in 1860. Throughout his political career and his tenure as President he stuck to the center and walked a tightrope between the Conservatives and Radicals in his own party and the Peace Democrats in the other party. While unailingly honest, he understood the political value of ambiguity to cloud facts that he would admit only if forced. Finally, at the dawn of his second term, he had so outmaneuvered all of his opponents in the Congress, in the North, and in the South, that he stood as the unquestioned master of American politics -- not bad for a boy who had grown up in a log cabin with less than a year of formal schooling. Doanld shows us Lincoln, the man and not merely the statue. Like the rest of us, he was a fallible human being who wasn't always sure that

"Honest Abe" comes alive

David Herbert Donald's biography of Abraham Lincoln is an outstanding work that emphasizes his most important aspect, his humanity. Lincoln came to the presidency with one of the skimpiest political resumes of any non-General in American History. Donald shows how this Washington outsider had to grope his way around at first, but then used his remarkable skills to find the political center, which was vital though he often seemed to stand alone. Donald's book focusses on Lincoln's life through Lincoln's eyes. He does not go into great detail about Civil War battles or anything else that Lincoln did not personally witness. The result is a biography that is as thorough as it is readable and that, like its subject, will stand the test of time.