Lincoln in the Times: The Life of Abraham Lincoln, as Originally Reported in The New York Times [Hardcover]

David Herbert Donald (Author), Harold Holzer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2005

A unique history of Lincoln's political rise, presidency, and death as reported by the nation's most respected newspaper, with introductions and additional perspectives from two eminent Lincoln historians

The New York Times closely covered the political career and presidency of Abraham Lincoln: his political rise, the early years of his presidency, the Civil War, and his assassination and its aftermath--perhaps our nation's most critical and dramatic presidency. Lincoln in the Times includes coverage of the major events in Lincoln's political life, such as his campaign, his surprising election, and his inaugurals; the State of the Union addresses, the Gettysburg Address, and the Emancipation Proclamation; the assassination and funeral. Edited and with introductions and supporting text by David Herbert Donald and Harold Holzer, the book contains vintage photographs and illustrations of Lincoln and others close to him, in the White House and on the battlefields that he visited.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer Prize–winning Lincoln biographer Donald and Holzer (Lincoln at Cooper Union) bring together the Old Gray Lady's coverage of the central events in the 16th president's life and tenure, beginning with the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The paper came late to these dramatic oratorical shows and predicted (rightly) that Douglas would take the cake. Indeed, up through the 1860 Republican convention, the Times didn't imagine that Lincoln had a chance of getting elected to any post in Washington; when he did win the presidential nomination, the paper declared "Underdog Wins!" The Times supported the new president, but shouted "Wanted—A policy!" when, about a month after his inauguration, Lincoln seemed unable to formulate a response to Southern secession. (Lincoln stashed a copy of this piece in a file labeled "Villainous articles.") On its heels came another villainous headline, "Wanted—A Leader!" The Times printed the Emancipation Proclamation as well as the Gettysburg Address—and led the nation in mourning Lincoln's assassination. The editors' annotations, interspersed throughout, help interpret the primary sources. Lincoln buffs will enjoy going back in time with this delightfully antiquarian anthology. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Each of the editors of this volume has written numerous books on Lincoln (Donald's Lincoln, 1995, being the best extant biography). Here they combine to extract Lincoln reportage from the Civil War version of theNew York Times, then a local newspaper. That local slant gives two passages detailing Lincoln's visits to New York the most vivid eyewitness colors. Times correspondents wrote in the prolix style of the era, noting prosaic, newspaper-selling detail about Lincoln's appearance, his immediate surroundings, and his extemporaneous remarks. The Times reports from Washington feel more historically generic, for Lincoln was not accessible to reporters and preferred to communicate either directly with his incessant stream of visitors or via his formal speeches, proclamations, open letters, and messages to Congress. Extracted verbatim for this volume, Lincoln's great documents bespeak a less-mediated way of receiving news than occurs today. For Lincoln buffs, the volume revives a contemporary, what's-next sense to the Civil War that formal histories tend to expunge. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (November 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031234919X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312349196
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Man for All Times, December 3, 2005

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This review is from: Lincoln in the Times: The Life of Abraham Lincoln, as Originally Reported in The New York Times (Hardcover)

Two of the best of Lincoln's men, David Herbert Donald and Harold Holzer, have edited a book every person interested in Abraham Lincoln and/or newspaper coverage in the Civil War era should own.

While a solid effort throughout, I found the second half of this book the most interesting. The reports printed in the New York Times on the last days of the war through the assassination conspiracy and its aftermath have a striking immediacy.

The report carried in the Times on Walt Whitman's talk on Lincoln given in New York City, some twenty-two years after that dreadful day of April 14, is an especially fine close to a valuable book on our nation's greatest president.