Lincoln as I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies [Hardcover]

Harold Holzer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

Editor Harold Holzer sifted through nineteenth century letters, diary entries, books, and speeches written by people who actually met Abraham Lincoln and offers up the scoop on America's greatest president.

Turns out that Lincoln was a terrible dresser, loved raunchy stories, and let his kids run all over him. In Lincoln As I Knew Him we learn this and much more about an extraordinary man who made a lasting impression on everyone who met him. From the famous---Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Ulysses S. Grant---to the not-so-famous---White House secretaries, artists, bodyguards, childhood pals, and rejected fiancees---this collection provides an insider's look at the man. The result is a folksy, revealing, and, at times, contradictory view of the President:

Assistant Secretary of War Charles A. Dana:

"This unerring judgment, this patience which waited and which knew when the right time had arrived, is an intellectual quality that I do not find exercised...with such absolute precision by any other man in history."

Lady Friend Mary Owens:

"Mr. Lincoln was deficient in those little links which make up the great chain of a woman's happiness."

An unusual portrait of a complex and elusive president, here's a book that strips away the myths and legends to uncover the authentic Abraham Lincoln.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Abraham Lincoln, the president whose strength of character held the United States together during its most traumatic experience, the Civil War, was an enigmatic figure. Using extracts from the writings of those who knew him best, this handy, small-format book presents the man in all his contradictions. Intensely private and given to dark moods of melancholy, he was respected and loved for his easy accessibility, humor, and unfailing courtesy. Physical descriptions suggest what it must have been like in his presence: his towering height at six feet four inches; his strange face, "the despair of every artist who undertook his portrait"; and the intelligence and empathy that shone from deep-set eyes--features constantly commented on. Lincoln's disregard for the physical details of ordinary life--clothing, food, personal appearance--was genuine, though he was not above ruffling his hair before a photograph to enhance this impression. The anecdotes are chosen to bring out elements of Lincoln's character, for example, his honesty and legendary love of books: a relative tells of his working three days hay-making as a boy to pay for a borrowed Life of Washington damaged in the rain. From his deliberate writing of the Proclamation of Emancipation over many days, we deduce his cautious decision-making and highest moral standards, as well as his political shrewdness. Short descriptions of the writers place the extracts in context: useful guides, as the writers range from Lincoln's family and colleagues to bitter enemies, including his assassin. Lincoln As I Knew Him is biography at its most accessible, building a sympathetic portrait of an extraordinary personality and colossal historical figure. --John Stevenson

From Publishers Weekly

Holzer, compiler of previous Lincoln books (Lincoln on Democracy, etc.), has found a new approach to this most revered yet enigmatic of presidents. He delves into Lincoln's character through the revelations of those who knew himAsome well, some who met him only once. Holzer located memories from 11 classes of people: family members, personal and political friends, fellow lawyers, journalists and humorists, foreign observers, enemies, military men, authors, artists, African-Americans and White House intimates. One journalist wrote that Lincoln "never hesitated to tell a coarse or even outright nasty story." An old friend observed that he "had no superhuman qualities (which we call genius) but he had those which belong to mankind in general in an astonishing degree." General George McClellan wrote, "The President is nothing but a well meaning baboon." Frederick Douglass, who thought the president too slow to emancipate the slaves and called him "preeminently the white man's president," granted that Lincoln's personal conduct was marked by "his entire freedom from popular prejudice against the colored race." Careful to screen out apocryphal accounts that spread after Lincoln had become famous, Holzer presents a collection that sheds light not only on Lincoln but also on his timesAtimes that tried many souls. It is inspiring, based on Holzer's selections, to learn how much Lincoln helped to heal those souls.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 269 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156512166X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565121669
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,577,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lincoln As I Knew Him -- What a Guy, December 19, 1999

By 

Max Friedman (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lincoln as I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies (Hardcover)

Harold Holzer has done it again. Talk about consistency. This Lincoln scholar has created probably the most readable and intimate portrait of Abraham Lincoln to have come around in quite some time. While the excerpts are telling, the best part of the experience are the introductions to each excerpt. This is very much akin to getting a private guided tour to an extraordinary man and his era. It reminds me of the audiocassettes one gets at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (where Mr. Holzer also works) -- with the director of the museum providing an intimate portraits of the works of art before us. What is most telling at a time when we begin our own quest for our next president, is to learn that a man like Lincoln was just that -- a man -- but one with an extraordinary gift to connect to other men and women in a way that even today most politicians fail to understand or perhaps to mimic. I would have loved to have known Mr. Lincoln, but at least Harold Holzer gives us the next best thing -- recollections from those who did. And we're all better for it as a result. Pick this book up when you become dismayed at today's political discourse or the lack thereof -- and learn something about the failings and triumphs of the human spirit.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Like Getting to know this guy!, November 28, 1999

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lincoln as I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies (Hardcover)

As soon as I saw Harold Holzer on bookTV I immediately went out and bought this book. It is such a joy! I feel closer to Lincoln and feel I can summon him up more fully in my mind. The observations of those who knew him, especially before his assassination and deification are so telling, about the observer as much as the observed. It is clear that many focused on all that was unimportant about a person - physical appearance, clothing, sophistication and the like. In these categories Lincoln was clearly deficient. However, most saw through that and were touched by the power of this incredible man. Thank you, Harold, for this delicious book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have for all Fans of Lincoln!, May 3, 2000

By 

Carolyn Habryl (Palatine, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lincoln as I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies (Hardcover)

As a person who has spent much time studying Lincoln and the Civil War, I found this book to be one of the most interesting books I've read. The author has done an excellent job of finding short, concise accounts of Lincoln. This is a book which you can go back to many times and re-read. This would be a great read for high school American History classes.