Customer Reviews

The Shadows Rise: Abraham Lincoln and the Ann Rutledge Legend

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The author tries to 'prove' that Ann Rutledge and Abe Lincoln were truely in love, and planned to marry before her untimely death. Does he achieve this lofty objective?. I think he does, using mostly quotes and stories, and the unfairly ignored book by Lincolns former law partner, Mr. Walsh walks the reader thru the history of New Salem, the ways of life back then, and the people that remembered Ann and Abe as they were. He writes about some historians, who for one reason or another, refuse to accept the possiabilty that part of Abe died with Ann in 1835. The writing is crisp and informative and very helpfull in understanding how it was to live in the 1830's and beyond. Most of all i believe Mr. Walsh achieved something else-thats always tricky when writing about mythical figures like Lincoln. He made him very human....highly recomended

The Abraham Lincoln/Ann Rutledge romance is once again being debated among historians; any who want to get to the source of the legend would do well to start here.
Walsh does not write histories, so much as stories about how history is written. He takes small but important moments in American history - Lincoln's fabled "Almanac murder trial," or the hanging of British spy Major Andre during the Revolutionary War - and methodically peels away the layers of revisionist history to give us an unvarnished look at the event through the eyes of those who experienced it. At the same time, he lets us see how layer upon layer of scholarly interpretation can muddy the waters of our past to the point that the truth is all but invisible. In "The Shadows Rise," he meticulously traces how Lincoln's chief 19th-century biographer, William Herndon, first heard eyewitness accounts that, while living in New Salem, young Lincoln fell in love with, and became engaged to, a lovely, bright and popular woman named Ann Rutledge. Tracing all existing accounts of former New Salemites, he puts together a convincing and warmly human portrait of Lincoln's first love, and of her tragic death. In all, more than 20 people who knew Lincoln and Rutledge in New Salem (the entire population of which was only around 100) testified the two were in love and engaged, but historians - often basing their opinions on other historians' analysis, rather than first-hand understanding of eyewitness testimony - have hotly debated the story since Herndon first went public with it shortly after Lincoln's death in 1865. The book succeeds in revealing a tender and telling chapter in young Lincoln's life, and in introducing us to a charming young woman it is difficult not to fall a little in love with yourself. Perhaps most importantly, it also shows how much confusion historians can cause when they spend too much time talking to each other, and not enough time listening to the real voices of the past. This is a marvelously readable book, equal parts history and detective story, that will have history buffs thinking about the past in some new and important ways.

Here is a bold and well-documented argument that the Abe Lincoln-Ann Rutledge romance was real and not the stuff of legend or outright fabrication. Walsh presents testimony from numerous persons who knew Lincoln and Rutledge. Although I don't accept every source Walsh uses, I find the cumulative impact of his research to be persuasive.

I HAVE BEEN A LINCOLN SCHOLAR ALL MY LIFE AND ALL THE EVIDENCE POINTS OUT THAT ANN WAS ABE'S TRUE LOVE.WHEN SHE DIED ON AUGUST 25,1835 PART OF LINCOLN WENT INTO THE GRAVE WITH ANN.SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL,KIND AND LOVING-THE TYPE OF WOMAN LINCOLN WANTED.I AM SURE THAT HE LOVED MARY,BUT THERE WAS ALWAYS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HIS HEART OF ANN RUTLEDGE.I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!GOD BLESS ANN AND ABE!!!!!!!

This was an excellent book regarding the story of Lincoln and Ann Rutledge! Logical and concise--well worth the read! And I like the fact it doesn't bash Mary Todd Lincoln. The two relationships were at different times with different Lincolns---apples and oranges!

This is a book that has been 50 years overdue. The book effectively destroys the unwarrented attack on Ann Rutledge by Mary Todd Lincoln's defenders. Walsh shows that not a single person in New Salem at the time denied the affair. It was only when the Randalls in the mid-20th century decided to become Mary Todd Lincoln's defence attorneys that there was even a question about Ann Rutledge's affair with Lincoln.

A question that has never been answered is why did it matter? Why did MTL's defenders feel it cast aspertions on MTL if Lincoln was involved with a woman four years before he even met her?