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A review by dtab62
A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White Jr.
5.0
Good single volume biographies of Lincoln are hard to come by. Sandburg's Lincoln is great literature, but not great history. Lincoln comes off as being made of marble. Conversely, there has been a trend over the last decade or two by iconoclastic revisionists to portray Lincoln as a malevolent racist. The last good, credible biography was Davd Herbert Donald's "Lincoln."
Ronald White's "A. Lincoln" is a welcome addition to Lincoln literature for those reasons. I've read dozens of books about every aspect of Lincoln's life and career and so I didn't expect to find much new here. I'm happy to admit I was wrong.
White is perhaps the world's leading expert on Lincoln's writings. Analyzing Lincoln's letters, speeches, notes to himself, and written meditations, White is able to form a picture of Lincoln's development as a lawyer, politician, and man. He goes past the quotes we're all familiar with, which is informative. By putting famous phrases into context he gives us a new portrait of Lincoln. For instance, the well-known phrase "I plainly confess that I have not controlled events, but they have controlled me" appears to show Lincoln as taking a passive stance. But White illustrates that that cherry-picked phrase is only part of a much larger logical argument Lincoln was making.
What I was surpised by is that while White does an adequate job of explaining events, there are times when he omits quotes that could illuminate the point. While he delves deep into Lincoln's written words, he does not use quotes much. For example, White writes that following the battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln was upset that Meade allowed Lee to escape into Virginia, claiming he threw the enemy out of "our" land. For some reason, White doesn't mention Lincoln's angry response "my God, don't they realize it's *all* our land?" There are a couple other examples, but overall this is a minor criticism and doesn't detract from the quality of the writing.
The book is thin on Lincoln's personality and interpersonal relationships. If you are looking for a book about his troubles with Mary, his various friendships, what food he liked etc. there are plenty of places to look, but this is not the book for you. It's more of a professional biography than a personal one. It accomplishes that aim admirably.
Ronald White's "A. Lincoln" is a welcome addition to Lincoln literature for those reasons. I've read dozens of books about every aspect of Lincoln's life and career and so I didn't expect to find much new here. I'm happy to admit I was wrong.
White is perhaps the world's leading expert on Lincoln's writings. Analyzing Lincoln's letters, speeches, notes to himself, and written meditations, White is able to form a picture of Lincoln's development as a lawyer, politician, and man. He goes past the quotes we're all familiar with, which is informative. By putting famous phrases into context he gives us a new portrait of Lincoln. For instance, the well-known phrase "I plainly confess that I have not controlled events, but they have controlled me" appears to show Lincoln as taking a passive stance. But White illustrates that that cherry-picked phrase is only part of a much larger logical argument Lincoln was making.
What I was surpised by is that while White does an adequate job of explaining events, there are times when he omits quotes that could illuminate the point. While he delves deep into Lincoln's written words, he does not use quotes much. For example, White writes that following the battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln was upset that Meade allowed Lee to escape into Virginia, claiming he threw the enemy out of "our" land. For some reason, White doesn't mention Lincoln's angry response "my God, don't they realize it's *all* our land?" There are a couple other examples, but overall this is a minor criticism and doesn't detract from the quality of the writing.
The book is thin on Lincoln's personality and interpersonal relationships. If you are looking for a book about his troubles with Mary, his various friendships, what food he liked etc. there are plenty of places to look, but this is not the book for you. It's more of a professional biography than a personal one. It accomplishes that aim admirably.