Customer Reviews

Abraham Lincoln: A Life

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have not finished reading the books, but in owning over 150 of the best Lincoln books, I believe this one has captured what the other bios were not quite able to get at (In part due to the on going research etc. since the late 40's) Burlingame adds his own twist on a lot of previous ideas we thought were straight forward. For example Thomas Lincoln, now I'm not so sure he was a hardworker, and Lincoln's side of depression may have come fron him..... One of many new insignts. Just a great two volume set. It just falls short - 4 stars.... Why? The binding of the books are cheap cheap cheap. I Had to do repair work on the back bindings (Fine if you happen to have book repair items on hand). I bet you won't find many of these 1st edition sets in mint condition 50 years from now. You will see what I mean, when you get the books. Cheap binding for a book that deserved better. For the price, leather should not have been out of the question! Still a great read. In my review, I believe the cover also needs to be judged.

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.

This book is that wonderful combination of research and readibility that is rare in such a lengthy work. Sure to be a standard reference for years to come except the copy I received has what only can be described as cheap or defective binding. The problem is, as Mr. DiCola described, the cover of the book seperates from the page binding, giving one the feel that the book is falling apart in your hands as you are reading it. Quite disappointing. Still, five stars for the author's contribution to Lincoln biography. Since writing this initial review I have contacted John Hopkins about the issues with the quality of the binding and have been most impressed with their response. They are aware of some issues with the binding and will work to correct them and make sure all customers get quality products. Refreshing.

The best political biography I've ever read; even better than Harry William's bio of Huey Long; beautifully written, it reads like a novel. Compelling, brilliant, erudite; I'd read a lot about Lincoln, but this has so much new material, and puts it together with the old to lend new insights.
Because of previous reviews about the poor binding quality, I waited to buy it; called the publisher 3 times, was finally assured the problems had been solved: and my copy is well-bound, strong, just right.
I dont understand why the price changes every six minutes, but this is a terrific book.

Michael Burlingame's "Abraham Lincoln: A Life" is superbly researched and magisterial in scope. The use of quotes of Lincoln and from people who were eyewitnesses to Lincoln makes you feel that you are eavesdropping on the actual conversations. Although there are few reference citations to works other than various letters and reminiscences, the Lincoln Center at Knox College's promised full bibliography should be helpful.

I experienced a problem with the structural integrity of volume one and, considering the weight of each tome, I hope others do not experience the same. However, a librarian has restored the problem I experienced.

The illustrations are fewer than one might expect in a biography of this scope, and there are no frontpieces (I would suggest that the Hesler June 3,1860 and Gardner November 8, 1863 would have been good choices for volumes 1 and 2, respectively). From that perspective the volumes compare unfavorably with the Sandburg biography published by Harcourt, Brace and Company decades ago.

Nevertheless, Michael Burlingame's biography will be the standard by which all later biographies will be judged. Kudos to the author and publisher.

When Americans - and many non-Americans - think of Abraham Lincoln, they think of the marble effigy in Washington, his title of "Great Emancipator," the simple magnificence of the Gettysburg Address, or even "A Monster" or "The Destroyer of the Constitution." To anyone wedded to such extremes of laud or opprobrium, this work is a necessary read.

If Burlingame has another "magnum opus" in him, I would be shocked. His research is clearly the product of years of labor and thought, and while he of course had to "cherry pick" his sources because of the monstrous amount of information available concerning the sixteenth President, his choices are balanced, even, and common-sense driven. His objective is clearly the "de-mystification" of Lincoln, but not the destruction of Lincoln. Burlingame is looking for Lincoln the man in all of his facets - lawyer, hardscrabble worker, thinker, President, just to name four - and he succeeds admirably. Not since Sandburg have I read a Lincoln biography where he is not only "all too human," but whose self-taught humanity is the fountainhead of what made him - arguably - the greatest of the American Presidents.

The size of the work is also made manageable by Burlingame's exquisite narrative writing style. I never found myself getting lost or confused, and Burlingame has a lively and subtle turn of phrase, not unlike his subject himself once enjoyed. And while, of course, such things cannot be proven and veer dangerously into the chancy waters of "psychohistory," Burlingame's connections between Lincoln's childhood and his later, always evolving attitudes towards slavery, emancipation, religious faith, the law, warfare, and his never-realized and shockingly inclusive vision of his "second term America" are eminently plausible and without wild speculations. This Lincoln is full-fleshed and comprehensible, worthy of his high office even if he himself often did not think so. And Burlingame shows us a man of hard life and cruel circumstances who always, until the end of his life, had an amazingly sharp and incisive mind, few illusions, and a fearless commitment to always consider and reconsider his positions on the key matters of his day before reaching iron-clad and far-reaching decisions. If Lincoln's past colored him, it never controlled him.

I note that Christopher HItchens' review appeared today, I believe, in "Vanity Fair." I directly refer you to his most excellent review for any futher recommendations.

I also note that other reviews have compained about shoddy binding. I am afraid that I had issues with this as well, but another reviewer has indicated that the problem has been resolved. So that information, if accurate, would make the books well worth the price.

I rarely say so, but I think this book is Bancroft and Pulitzer worthy in every way. I give it my most enthusiastic recommendation without reservation.

First, sincere thanks to the readers who warned about the binding. Because of their warnings, I handled tthe books with great care, and had no problems.
Second, while I agree with the other contributors' reviews, there's little point in repeating what they have said. So, here are a few personal observations.
What a delight! I took a leisurely year reading this great work. A superb accompaniment was the two volume Library of America selection of Lincoln's speeches and letters -- another delight to amble through.
Burlingame treats us to a full selection of Lincoln's witty stories, which entertain us, while revealing an aspect of Lincoln's character. On the other hand, Burlingame's thorough exposure of Mary Lincoln is shocking, but nevertheless revelatory of Lincoln's superhuman patience.
Lincoln realized that the Fugitive Slave law, combined with the Dred Scott decision, would effectively make every state a slave state -- a revelation to me.
Lincoln argued that a Supreme Court decision (such as that of Dred Scott) should not and did not become the overarching law of the land -- another eye-opener.
I had not really begun to comprehend the north's resistance to freeing all Afro-Americans. How difficult this made Lincoln's tasks: prosecuting the war, and freeing Afro-Americans. Lincoln was almost superhumanly shrewd, as he gradually brought the country to the point where the Constitution was amended to prohibit slavery. Burlingame shows Lincoln as the consummate master of "the art of the possible." I loved the way Lincoln managed his unspoken campaign for freedom.
Some of the Lincoln letters Burlingame cites reveal the President's efforts to give orders without giving offence -- and the fist of steel within the velvet glove.
Jefferson Davis appears as an egotistical autocrat of narrow mind, indifferent to the deaths, maimings, widowings, orphanings and deprivations suffered by the South, because of his determination to drag the war out to its bitter and decisive end.
Finally, my experience with Burlingame's Lincoln, was that there were so many quotations integrated into the text, that it was easier to absorb the book in relatively small bites. When I finally finished, it was with the regret of saying good-bye to an old friend.

It took me months finish reading it, but Michael Burlingame's biography of Abraham Lincoln was well worth the effort. Well-written, scholarly and yet accessible, Burlingame's work will stand the test of time. Burlingame's conclusions about Lincoln and his contemporaries were well argued and usually convincing. The author comes just short of declaring Lincoln a saint, and gives him great credit for Union victory in the Civil War. This book makes Lincoln's wife look even worse than she has in most books about Lincoln. Other authors have presented Mary as mentally unstable, argumentative, ill-tempered, and petty, but Burlingame presents her as corrupt, lecherous, and possibly unfaithful to her husband.
Few other politicians can look good compared to Lincoln, but Seward, Cameron, Chase and others come off worse in this book then they do in others.

Most of this book was not new to me. When something struck me as new information, the source was usually a reminiscence, which the author used with great regularity, especially during the early years of Lincoln's life. I did not really decent from any of the author's usage of the reminiscences, but others may object to some conclusions. For example, Burlingame accepts Ann Rutledge as being Lincoln's true love; the author also claims that Lincoln was ashamed of his birth mother as well as his laggard father. Burlingame was struck but the poverty of Lincoln's youth and his ability to overcome great difficulties associated with his early years. It was also striking to read more about how big of a hack politician Lincoln was during the 1830s and 1840s; the political opportunism bald-faced partisanship he displayed being in broad contrast to the mature and incredibly even-handed approach to governing that his displayed as President. Indeed, it's hard to fully accept that Lincoln despite his incredible achievements during the Civil War was as angelic as Burlingame deems him to be. I still feel Lincoln's reputation would have taken a hit, if he had been forced to deal more with the difficulties of Reconstruction. Although there is also no doubt in my mind that he could have better handled the process than Andrew Johnson. Americans can be thankful Lincoln was able to serve his country so well at such a critical moment.
Michael Burlingame has justly served this great American hero well with a monumental biography.

One word of caution about this in-depth biography of our 16th President...this book is not for the casual or first-time Lincoln reader. This book is definitely aimed toward a scholarly audience who has a background in the study of Lincoln and the Civil War. The first volume deals with the first 52 years of his life up to the time of his inauguration and examines some controversial issues such as Lincoln's relationships with his father and his wife. It also deals with his early political career and culminates with his election to the Presidency and his journey to Washington for the inauguration. Volume two starts with the first inauguration and covers the remaining four years of his life (as President). Burlingame shows how Lincoln was masterful at knowing when to take the next step in the war and against slavery always making sure that he had prepared the public opinion for what needed to be done. Despite disagreements with the Radicals within his party, Lincoln was able to maintain a coalition to win the Civil War and move toward reuniting the nation at the time of his assassination on Good Friday 1865.

Burlingame does a wonderful job of working Lincoln's own words into the text so they flow well with his own and make for an excellent read. In the end, he shows how only Lincoln could have led the United States through its greatest crisis successfully. None of the other leaders of the time had the right temperament or could have used the right words or sense of timing to bring the nation along to reunion. Of course the question still lingers that will never be answered..."How would Reconstruction have gone if Lincoln had lived?" We can only speculate on that.

I've read many biographies and other types of books on Lincoln and none of them approach Mr. Burlingame's Lincoln in detail and readability. Yes the binding degrades the overall quality of the work but with care I had no real problems. I read both volumes from cover to cover and found the level of detail wonderful and his writing style keeps the narrative flowing quite smoothly. If I had to complain about anything I'd say that so much political detail is presented in volume 2 that I kind of lost sight of the personal side of Lincoln.

Overall, I was not disappointed and you won't be either. I can't imagine anyone ever topping this one.