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Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon

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The bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln will be upon us next year, and there will be ceremonies, re-dedications of memorial buildings and statues, and plenty of books. It is hard to imagine that any of the books will surpass in beauty and significance _Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon_ (Knopf) by Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt, and Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr. The reason there are so many Kunhardts as authors is that they are a family that for five generations has been involved in Lincoln scholarship and collecting Lincoln memorabilia; some of this Kunhardt clan has already brought us a well-regarded illustrated biography of Lincoln. Now they have turned their view to what happened after Lincoln's death; the book starts with the assassination at Ford's Theater, and covers the next sixty years, as the nation first came to grips with its loss, then tried to come to terms with what Lincoln had meant and had intended for his nation. This is a big book, lavish with photographs on every page, pictures of Lincoln (an appendix shows every photo known), the homes he came from, his family, his associates and enemies, the first attempts at biography, and the commemorations that were performed through the years. It is also a sobering book, as a theme that runs through it is how the nation gradually concentrated on the comfortable image of the Lincoln who had led a war to keep the Union together, rather than the Lincoln who had freed the slaves and made them citizens.

Lincoln was assassinated on Good Friday, 16 April 1865. Telegraph reports of his death went out the next day, and clergy had to rearrange their Easter sermons to reflect the shock of a first presidential assassination. It was the start of a national sainthood for America's Savior. It is hard to imagine what Lincoln would have made of such displays and feelings. Even his wife Mary initially admitted, "Mr. Lincoln had ho faith and no hope in the usual acceptation of those words," but as the years passed, she encouraged the view of Lincoln as "a true Christian gentleman". One main character in this book is Frederick Douglass, who had not supported Lincoln initially, and never became a sycophantic supporter of the President, but who realized that through the Emancipation Proclamation and other unofficial acts, Lincoln had shown himself "emphatically the black man's president: the first to show any respect to their rights as men." He was a friend to Lincoln, and afterward to Mary, who presented him with Lincoln's antler-headed walking stick. The other main figure throughout this book is Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln. He had never won his father's approval, but he did what he could to promulgate the vision he had of his father, protesting the commercialization of such sites as Lincoln's Springfield home, and he loathed the fabled log cabin of Lincoln's birth as showing naught but "degradation and uncleanliness."

Robert Todd Lincoln was on the platform in 1922 when the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated, part of the final pages of this great book. The authors show that the Memorial and its dedication ceremony would have satisfied Robert just as it satisfied those in power. In many ways the dedication symbolized what America had made of Lincoln's legacy. There were black guests in attendance, but they were off in the "colored section", and reports said they were rudely treated by soldiers in charge of the section. There was one black speaker. The Memorial committee had been careful not to get a firebrand like W. E. B. DuBois, who appreciated the achievements of Lincoln even more because he appreciated realistically Lincoln's flaws. They got instead a leading black businessman, Robert Moton, who gave a powerful speech on America's history of slavery and racism, and exhorted Americans to embrace "equal justice and equal opportunity." The ceremony was, of course, widely reported, but Moton's speech was not, and his participation was even reduced to leaving his name off, referring to him only as "a representative of his race." As part of the bicentennial ceremony, the Lincoln Memorial will be rededicated by the new President in 2009; it is fun to think how astounded participants in that first dedication would have been could they look in.

_Looking for Lincoln_ is a handsome book, chronologically assigning one or two pages to specific topics and providing moving or amusing pictures in illustration. Depicted here are the first attempts to make commercial use of the Lincoln name; the box for "Lincoln Pure White Lead" shows a picture of the President over the words "In Memoriam", and assures potential purchasers, "By its purity & excellent qualities, this lead deserves the name bestowed upon it." There is a charming picture of former Confederate soldiers, recreating Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg fifty years later, complete with their umbrellas. There is a picture of the young Golda Meir (future prime minister of Israel) dressed as the Statue of Liberty for an Americanization pageant in Milwaukee. As the authors consider each biography and each book of reminiscence in turn, they quote from them, giving lively anecdotes which illuminate Lincoln's personality, and the times the reminiscences were made. Every page here has images and words that are worth thinking about; this is an essential volume about Lincoln postmortem, an important and fascinating examination of Lincoln's legacy as accepted and as forgotten.

I don't even know where to start.. I anticipated this release hoping it would have some great photos and archive info... it bypassed my expectations by leaps and bounds.. the photos bring to life an era of our history that many only know the outline of.

The good , the bad and the ugly all team here with anything you ever wanted to know and things you didn't.. EVEN if you are not a history fan it is NOT a dry read. You can also go at your own pace.. flip to sections , etc.. its the visual of a coffee table book but one you WANT to read and pick up time and time again.

From the cover photo (Lincolns beaver hat the day he was shot) to the history of anything Lincoln, it is a page turner. over and over again, everything draws you in. I felt like I could touch the dust on Lincolns hat, or see the expressions of the people and the mood of the nation at his death. It is not a bunch of antique potraits, (yes those are there too) but many candid shots as welll along with letters, stories, news and unedited first hand accounts. The reminder that these were real people in a very real time.

If I could write these authors I would do it in a heartbeat.. I read a great deal and own probably over 1000 books that cover many genres. History is on of my favorite.. but this book... besides being visually stunning, is a must have for historians, and the curious alike.. get this, you will NOT be sorry.. it is nothing short of spectacular!

For anyone who is interested in the history of Abraham Lincoln and how his life impacted our history this book is a wonderful resource. Outstanding photographic history and a well balanced view that considers the pros and cons of how many of his contemporaries viewed the legacy of Lincoln.

This is a terrific book! It is solely about lincoln's death and the reactions, inside stories of all individuals involved at the time and the aftermath of lincoln's legacy. The photographs are priceless, items rarely seen. The stories about people's thoughts, diaries, news etc at the time broaden your perspective on this critical event. The narrative has short but meaty discussions which makes it an easy read. Strongly recommend for lincolnphiles, teachers, lovers of history and as a coffee table book.

It took me several weeks to read this comprehensive and immensely satisfying book by the Kunhardt family....not simply because the wealth of material is outstanding, but because each page deserves a careful reading and each photograph demands the reader's concentration. Published in advance of Abraham Lincoln's bicentennial in February, 2009, "Looking for Lincoln" is one of the most fascinating and inspiring books about our sixteenth president that I have ever seen.

Beginning not with Lincoln's life but with his assassination, the Kunhardts take us on a journey of some sixty years, ending with the death of Robert Lincoln in 1926. Its concentration, of course, is on Lincoln's legacy... how it changed over the course of that time period and how the many books, articles and remembrances of Lincoln were woven into the fabric of our history. We get a mixed report on Lincoln's life from those who knew him and those who researched him, but the overall view is as sweeping a look as one ever may find.

Through it all, one person emerges as the glue that holds the story together...Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham and Mary's eldest son and the only one to make it to adulthood. His entire adult life is on display here and the summary of that life is this...the complications more than the joy of being Lincoln's son shadowed his life to the end. He lost three brothers at early ages and then his own son, had his mother committed to an asylum, fought with those who wrote books about his father and the misrepresentations he felt many of them made, was at hand for the assassinations of Presidents Garfield and McKinley but never, himself, really took the spotlight. This book is as much about him as it is about his father.

Perhaps the most compelling reasons to read "Looking for Lincoln", however, are the hundreds of photographs...from the first one of Abraham Lincoln taken in 1846 to an aging Robert Lincoln conversing with President Harding on the day of the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in May, 1922. They are astounding in their complement to the book...indeed, without them, the book couldn't exist. The 114 photos of Lincoln that finish off the book are absolutely wonderful...and as the authors remind us, Abraham Lincoln was the most photographed president of his day.

"Looking for Lincoln" stands in a category by itself. It is extremely well-documented and well-organized, with a flowing narrative told much of the time by those who knew and wrote about Lincoln. I highly recommend it and suggest readers take time to digest this wonderful contribution to our knowledge of Lincoln by the Kunhardts.

A good purchase for anyone interested in Mr. Lincoln, especially to matters related to the years following his death through to the completion of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922 and the passing in 1926 of the last direct survivor, Robert in 1926.

Not a detailed biography, but a pictorial book that should inspire one to further reading. It is great as to the photographic record surrounding Mr. Lincoln, a fine introduction to his various early biographers, as well as instructive about how racial politics actually played out in the many decades after the Emancipation Proclamation. (For example, one would think that the uncritical high estimation some still have of President Woodrow Wilson would be blasted away.)

After reading this book one would have to be a blockhead not to be in wonder, in light of the results of the 2008 presidential election, at the progress on racial issues that has been made in the United States.

Comprehensive, fascinating, and extremely well-illustrated look at various aspects of President Lincoln's adult life and times. Better availability of photographs than what one can even find at the Lincoln Museum itself. I also liked the segmentation of topics, so you can go right to a field of interest if you want, without having to wade through other narrative.

After being thoroughly absorbed in Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals" for two months, I was suffering from Lincoln withdrawal. Then I found this wonderful book, just the thing for someone in my condition. It picks up right where Goodwin left off, to the day, the infamous day of April 14, 1865. Not only that, its rich treasure of photos and illustrations brings to life all the characters I've been reading about. What a stroke of luck to have found it!

This work is divided into five parts: 1. Black Easter; 2. We Who Knew Him; 3. Betrayal; 4. Looking Back; and 5. His Unfinished Work. In addition, there's a wonderful gallery of photographs of Lincoln from 1846 to 1865. Every reader is guaranteed to learn something new from this work. The text by Philip, Peter, and Peter (Jr) Kunhardt is clear, unobtrusive, engrossing, and thorough. Original texts from newspapers, testimony, letters, and first-hand accounts are presented in chronological order, from April 14, 1865 to the date the last survivor of "the Emancipator," Robert Lincoln, his son, died on July 26, 1926 at the age of 82. To his dying day, Robert regretted not going along to the theatre with his parents that fateful awful night. He said no when his father asked him to accompany them. Little facts like this are everywhere to be found in this rich work.

For the professional historian, much of what's here is probably known. But for me, I had no idea that there was an attempt to steal Lincoln's body on November 7, 1876, or that Teddy Roosevelt's ring contained a strand of Lincoln's hair. On and on this book goes, giving one more fact after another in a generously large format that doesn't spare quality in its production. I love this book. I think anyone who's read "Team of Rivals" or who cares about Lincoln will love it too.

I am the kind of person who loves the story after the story. For this reason, I was enthralled by Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon by Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt, and Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr... Looking for Lincoln actually serves as an epilogue to Lincoln's life, beginning with the last day of his life and ending with the death of his son, Robert Todd Lincoln, 60 years afterward.

This story actually began in 1865 with the birth of Frederick Hill Meserve. For 60 years, he served as "the country's preeminent collector and historian of the photographs of Abraham Lincoln." The Kunhardts' are his direct descendents, and are the 5th generation of this family to document the life of our 16th president. Through photographs, drawings, maps, letters, diary entries, newspaper articles, etc., the authors attempt to show how the legend of Lincoln evolved over time. Done in a diary format, this 497 page book is a companion book to the PBS special, Looking for Lincoln.

In addition to well-known facts, Looking for Lincoln contains much information that you would never find in other books. There are lots of stories, anecdotes, and trivia about Lincoln and those who surrounded him. There are sections about Lincoln's assassination, the conspirators, their trial, and their deaths. The authors follow Mary, Tad and Robert Todd Lincoln and write about events in their lives (including their deaths). Glimpses are given into the lives of cabinet members after the death of Lincoln. Lots of Lincoln biographies are summarized as various people fought to memorialize the "real" Lincoln. Robert Todd Lincoln fought with many over his father's legacy, including Osborn Oldroyd, who turned their Springfield house into a tacky tourist trap. There is also some interesting trivia. For instance, after Lincoln's death, Mary Lincoln gave her husband's favorite walking stick to Frederick Douglass, who cherished this precious gift until his dying day. Or that Lincoln's coffin was opened seven different times to make sure the president was still there (he was).

The one fault I have with Looking for Lincoln is that at times, not all of the facts presented here a true. One of the most obvious errors is about Secretary of State William Seward's death. "On October 10, 1872, with Seward's wife, Francis, and their daughter Frannie gathered round, this central pillar of Abraham's Lincoln's cabinet fell." Even an amateur Lincoln scholar knows that Francis died 2 months after Lincoln, and that Seward's daughter died the following year.

Still, Looking for Lincoln is a fine book to have. While reading a number of other Lincoln books on the 200th anniversary of his birth, it was interesting to reach for Looking for Lincoln to get even more of the story. Even 200 years after his birth, we are still often in the shadow of this great man.

This is a very good accumulation of many Lincoln related photos and stories of people associated with him throughout his life. It has interesting detail and draws the reader into the bigger picture of the man and his life. In several instances it would have been more meaningful to have greater in depth information from and about the Lincoln associates. For the person interested in Lincoln this is a must read book.