Lincoln

Well, for me, this would be a book I can classify as “Be careful what you wish for”. In my quest to read one book about each president in chronological order, I inevitably had to read books published under the Presidents of America series. This is because many presidents we have had in our nation's history have been duds, so to speak, and are not worth the authors time to write, nor a publisher's cost to print, a 300 to 600 page book about them. The Presidents of America series seeks to remedy that by making short books about each president, an admirable goal to be sure. Yet, lately, I have been forced to read so many of them that I felt like I was missing something. These books seemed to skip over so much of their subject's lives, that I was beginning to dislike them based on principal. Soon, I was yearning to read Lincoln by David Donald not only for the fact that it was, you know, about Abraham Lincoln, but also because it was a nice thick book. I was anticipating this being filled with a detailed exploration of Lincoln the man and how that changed once he became President. Yet, what I got was a historical lecture on the seemingly mundane details of Lincoln's life, and actions during his Presidency told in the most boring way possible.

Firstly, let me begin with the good of this biography: This is extremely detailed, with much of the text being devoted to showing the primary sources of the day. There are quotes from friends, close relatives, political confidants, and newspaper articles. All of this makes for a comprehensive look at what was said about Lincoln both before and as he was President.

This also makes for a very strong look at how much opposition and hatred Lincoln faced. There were those people who thought we would win the Civil War quickly (why is thinking we will win a war quickly such a theme with us?) and when that did not happen, Lincoln faced growing opposition. I always knew that many people opposed the war for many different reasons, but seeing their anger turned on Lincoln was surprising to me. We tend to idolize Lincoln, or even see him as a god-like figure, yet many people of his time thought him to be foolish and incapable of dealing with the crisis at hand, to say the least. This made for interesting reading, when it came to see the scrutiny that Lincoln was under at the time.

Donald also gives Lincoln a balanced exposure. He shows Lincoln at his best (The Lincoln-Douglas debates), when he is most clever (working with his cabinet), and when he is at his worst (denying men the right of habeas corpus), while showing the myriad of contradictions about him along the way. This makes for a good take on a man who has been mythologized in our own time, and it was good to see him as a human being, rather than an idol.

Yet for all the detail we get in this book, I never felt like I knew Lincoln, or, perhaps, could picture him sitting in front of me. The best biographies tend to make you feel like you can sit the subject down at dinner and have a lively discussion not only about the topics of their time, but also about the concerns of today. You can feel their triumphs and pains, their worries and their personal confidences. John Adams by David McCullough, is, still, the best Presidential biography when it comes to this factor.

This book does not even come close to that. Don't get me wrong, it is chalk full of information, but none of it reaches the level of personal feeling that we should get with a subject like Lincoln. We do not have a writing style that put us in the room with him. Instead, it feels like we are more watching a history professor lecture to us about him back in college: informative? Yes. Entertaining? No.

And that is what leads me to the rating I have given it. A biography for me must be informative, but also entertaining, or, at least, well written enough to draw me into their subject. This book does very well with the information, but it was very difficult to get through. At times, I asked myself why I didn't just put it back on my shelf and get a different biography. Perhaps I'm just stubborn that way. If you have read many books or seen many documentaries about Lincoln and the Civil War, then this may be right up your ally, and you'll enjoy it, despite its writing style. But if you are ignorant of Lincoln and his life, then I'd skip this for another biography. I give it a three out of five.

Edited for clarity.