Customer Reviews

Young Abe Lincoln: His Teenage Years in Indiana

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

 

 

...is this a book that you really had to be written?

I know that the top-rated, best-selling history authors depend a lot on writers like C. Fred Conway in order to get the more popular, wider-audience histories written. Why? Because Conway is a fan of Indiana history and he has done a lot of research that people like James McPherson would never have time to do simply out of a love for his local area. This is one of the 4 books he has written about Indiana, Kentucy and/or Ohio and life along the Ohio River. Conway knows his stuff but...

Well, I am also a proud son of the Hoosier state and I found this book to be more than a little pointless. The important facts could have been written in about 10 pages, maybe less. A little more than 5% of the book is the hopeful reminiscings of women that Lincoln may or may not have dated and their wishings that they could have married Lincoln (at the time they were interviewed he was the assassinated former President) if only they had really wanted to.

Out of 130 pages of text (Including Appendices showing Indiana state parks that have a Lincoln connection), I would estimate at least 40 pages of the text consists of pictures. Conway likes to include whole poems that Lincoln wrote about his boyhood in Indiana - page after page of poems. One whole page is filled with the creeds of the church that Lincoln attended but never joined. Trivia, not history.

So, I give this one a D. Too many pictures and too much inane detail. I felt like someone had tried to pump up a large pamphlet into a book. It is not an F or a one star rating because at least the facts he has presented are correct, which is saying something.

Do not buy unless you are a serious Lincoln collector.

W. Fred Conway's novel on Abraham Lincoln,"Young Abe Lincoln:His Teenage Years in Indiana"is an excellent look at Lincoln's teenage years.I have had this book for a long time,and no matter how old I am,I will never stop reading this book.It talks a little bit about Lincoln's birth in Kentucky and his life there,but it mosty covers when Lincoln grew up in Southern Indiana and also discusses what it was like for him and his family,some of his jobs,and some of his adventures that he got into with this friends and family. It stops around the time when it gets to talking a little about when Lincoln left Indiana to move to Illinois. Very good and interesting book,lots of good pictures,and it is definitely,by all means,a winner. I'm big into history(presdential and small towns in the 1800's that became bigger as time went on)so I really enjoyed this book,and if you are interested in both of those things like I am,then I highly recommend you get a copy of this book. Like I already said,no matter how old I get,I will always enjoy this book and I hope you do to.