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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book witha lot of reasurch material!, April 21, 1999
By A Customer
Lincoln: a PhotobiographyBy Russell Freedman "A spider of a boy" they called him. Throughout Lincoln's life he was known as a tall, bony legged man. Although he claimed he had forgotten his childhood, historians say he was born in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky on February 12,1809. His parents, Thomas and Nancy named him after his pioneer grandpa who had been killed by Indians while harvesting his crops. After many years Thomas Lincoln, who was a farmer, decided to move the family to Indiana. This was, as Lincoln said, " The hardest experience of my life." Abe and his sister Sarah attended a small one-room cabin school two miles away from their home. This was the only formal schooling he had. When Abe was nine his mother, uncle and aunt all came down with the so-called "milk sickness" and died weeks later. A year went by until Thomas found another wife. He married Sarah Bush Lincoln who was a great housekeeper and took very good care of Lincoln and his sister. She also brought her three children to live with them. Lincoln learned to work hard at an early age. Later during his presidency he said, "Work, work, work is the main thing." After that, Lincoln decided to look for work in New Orleans and then New Salem, Illinois. In New Salem, Lincoln studied law and decided to run for the state legislature. He lost but then ran again when he was 25 and became the second highest vote getter in the state so he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. At the age of 30, he moved to Springfield and met the love of his life, Mary Ann Todd. They were engaged soon after they met but called the wedding off after Mary's sister did not approve of the marriage. Lincoln's friends said this period was the worst emotional crisis of his life. On the 4th of November they told Mary's sister they were to be married, and they did that evening. Their first child Robert Todd was born nine months later. Then Eddie was born in 1846. By the time Eddie was born Lincoln had opened his own law office and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and moved to Washington. Eddie, not yet four, died in 1850. Later in 1851 Willie was born, then Thomas who was nicknamed Tad was born in 1853. At this time Lincoln was the leading antislavery spokesperson in Illinois. At the age of 51 he ran for President. He was elected on the 4th November 1860. In 1861 the death of Willie, who was only 11, really upset Mary. During Lincoln's presidency he accomplished a lot of things including the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation declared that all slaves in Confederate territory would be free. As President during the War Between the States, Lincoln agonized over the loss of life and the division of the country. He wanted to preserve the democratic government of a truly united group of states. On April 4th 1865 at the age of 56 Lincoln was shot in Fords Theater by John Wilkes Booth. Although the President did not die straight away he did die the next day. I think this book was written either for research purposes or to show the world what a great man Lincoln was. Freedman showed how Lincoln started from almost nothing and went on to become President. I think Lincoln would have wanted everyone to know how hard he worked to become President. It is historically proven that Lincoln had great depression following Willie's death. Freedman never wrote about his depression; he only wrote about Mary's. Also, the fact that Lincoln was controversial when he was president wasn't mentioned in this book. I think this book is biased because Freedman only shows how great of a person Lincoln was and not any bad sides. This bias could be from nationalism. Everyone in the United States thinks Lincoln is a great man and Freedman could have gotten his bias from that. This book is an inspiring story about persevering under difficult situations. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know about Lincoln or who is researching him. I would recommend it to anyone over the age of nine because some of the language used might be difficult for anyone under that age. I found out that this book is not Russell Freedman's only Newbery winner book. He has also won a Newbery in 1994 for a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. I also went on to Amazon.com to find that both these books are sold there. Freedman seems to excel in writing biography books.
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