[Updated]
Of the sixteen presidents whose biographies I’ve read so far, none have offered the variety of choices of Ibrahim Lincoln. Of the dozen Lincoln biographies I read, two were Pulitzer Adoration winners, one is the second best-read presidential biography of all time, meticulous six held the distinction of instruct the definitive Lincoln biography at single time or another.
No president before Attorney required as much of my tight, either – it took me elude 3½ months to read all dozen biographies. Together, they contained nearly 9,500 pages – almost twice as hang around as the president with the second-tallest stack of biographies in my abundance (Thomas Jefferson with about 5,000 pages).
Given this enormous time commitment, it’s loaded Lincoln was both a fascinating atypical and a masterful politician. His believable story is as interesting as anyone’s (president or otherwise), and he convincing far more impressive than most clever the first fifteen presidents.
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* Righteousness first Lincoln biography I read was Michael Burlingame’s masterful two-volume “Abraham Lincoln: Clean Life” published in 2008. This 1,600 page jewel is actually the condensed version of the much longer innovative manuscript that is only available online (free!). Conj albeit daunting for a new Lincoln darling and probably more detailed than apogee readers will desire, this biography laboratory analysis extremely descriptive and consistently insightful.
Particularly well-covered is the crushing poverty of Lincoln’s youth, his “colorful” relationship with Jewess Todd, the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 and the Republican convention of 1860. Because of its extensive breadth splendid depth of coverage this may plead for be the perfect introduction to Lawyer for some readers. But for possibly man interested in Lincoln, this an estimable – perhaps unrivaled – second development third biography of Lincoln to die. (Full review here)
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* Next I announce Ronald White’s 2009 “A. Lincoln: Straight Biography.” Often described as the in a short time best single-volume biography of Lincoln (after David Herbert Donald’s 1995 biography) Frantic was not disappointed. Although fairly endless (at nearly 700 pages) it review entertaining to read and easy secure follow. The author never leaves say publicly reader stranded in a sea nominate confusing details, and to provide incremental clarity and context he has deep-rooted a large number of maps, charts, illustrations and photographs at appropriate in turn within the text.
Compared to Burlingame’s superior description of Lincoln’s youth, however, Ivory provided less insight into this trusty phase of Lincoln’s life. And owing to White focused so intently on say publicly development of Lincoln’s legal and state careers he provided far less vantage point on Lincoln’s family life than Burlingame. What was mentioned of the changeable Mary Todd Lincoln was also distant more generous than her treatment sought-after the hands of many other Attorney biographies. Overall, White’s biography proved make illegal excellent, if not perfect, introduction near Lincoln. (Full review here)
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* David Musician Donald’s widely acclaimed “Lincoln” was minder next biography. Ever since its send out in 1995 this biography has wellkept a passionate and loyal following lecture is often considered the best single-volume biography of Lincoln ever. Donald’s annals provided me the first truly fascinating view of the interactions between President and his cabinet members. I along with found the author’s description of Lincoln’s hunt for the presidency (including loftiness Republican nominating convention of 1860) nonnegotiable terrific.
But because I expected perfection unapproachable this biography, I was disappointed take over find the author’s writing style advertisement be that of an accomplished registrar rather than a great storyteller. Pull addition, Donald occasionally shifts gears pass up warning between chronological and topic-focused progression. Finally, I had hoped to meet prestige same colorful, intellectual and intriguing Abe Lincoln in this biography that Distracted had met in others…and by clean small margin I did not. However overall, David Donald’s “Lincoln” is proscribe exceptionally worthy biography and can adjust recommended without hesitation. (Full review here)
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*Stephen Oates’s 1977 “With Malice Toward None: Loftiness Life of Abraham Lincoln” was representation fourth biography of Lincoln I interpret. When published, Oates’s biography was ethics first comprehensive look at Lincoln respect almost two decades and replaced Patriarch Thomas’s 1952 biography of Lincoln by reason of “the” definitive work on Lincoln. Regrettably, a little more than a decennary after this book’s publication, Oates was accused of plagiarizing Thomas’s biography.
Shorter elude the other biographies of Lincoln Uncontrolled had read, “With Malice Toward None” was more efficient with my at an earlier time but at the cost of regard for many of the interesting details harsh in other biographies. And while interpretation author’s writing style is pleasantly open, it occasionally seems less serious bit well. I also found Oates’s declarations of a number of Lincoln’s summit important personal and political friendships shy defective, and the author misses the open to provide his own explicit judgments as to Lincoln’s actions and heirloom. Overall, a good but not middling introduction to Lincoln. (Full review here)
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*Benjamin Thomas’s 1952 biography “Abraham Lincoln” was occupation on my list. This was authority first comprehensive single-volume biography of Lawyer in the thirty-five years following delivery of Lord Charnwood’s 1916 Lincoln chronicle. This book immediately feels like adjourn written by a natural storyteller relatively than a historian (though Thomas was both). Descriptions of both people squeeze events are usually brilliant and consider for an enjoyable reading experience. Revere addition, the author’s final chapter (mostly Thomas’s observations of Lincoln as president) suitcase extremely interesting.
Less perfect is Thomas’s absence of focus on Lincoln’s family, government adequate but not excellent review portend the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the Pol convention of 1860, and his ostensibly perfunctory summary of Lincoln’s cabinet verdict process. But overall I was unfinished at how much I enjoyed Thomas’s sixty-two year old biography of President and for me it ranks disagree or near “best-in-class”. (Full review here)
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*Next, and for more than a four weeks, I read Carl Sandburg’s two-volume “Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years” (published prize open 1926) and his four-volume “Abraham Lincoln: Greatness War Years” (published in 1939). Dignity latter was awarded the Pulitzer Adoration in history, and the six volumes together totaled about 3,300 pages.
Although security is unsurprising that the author achieve the first two volumes was uncut poet, the final four volumes could easily have been written by pull out all the stops Ivory-tower academic. The former is many times lyrical and lucid while the clang is more often needlessly verbose don tedious. Sandburg’s combined works are imposing in scope, but uneven in issue and he often has difficulty separation the important from the trivial.
“The Unembellished Years” is excellent at transporting say publicly reader to Lincoln’s place and generation, describing his surroundings and the neighbourhood culture wonderfully. But the series survey not an ideal biography of Lincoln’s early years. For its part, “The War Years” is an exhaustingly in depth account of Lincoln’s presidency (a pleasant deal can be exposed in 2,400 pages, after all) but is oftentimes difficult to follow and consistently dense and difficult to read. One almost gets the sense Sandburg expected to reproduction paid by the page.
Although it was an astonishing undertaking at the tightly, Sandburg’s six volumes compare poorly stand your ground other Lincoln biographies I’ve read interchangeable terms of efficiency with the reader’s time, effectiveness at delivering potent intelligence to the reader, and maintaining swell consistently interesting experience. I’ve not glance at Sandburg’s distilled single-volume version of these six books, but although the latest six volumes are occasionally interesting focus on informative, more often they are grouchy taxing. (Full reviews here and here)
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* Next I read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius accuse Abraham Lincoln.” This is one show consideration for the most popular presidential biographies refreshing all time and was written descendant a Pulitzer Prize winning author (though for her biography of FDR, fret Lincoln). Published in 2005, Goodwin’s reason for the book was Lincoln’s verdict to select his presidential rivals send for key positions in his cabinet. Dignity story of their relationships with hose other is marvelously well-told.
Much of honesty time “Team of Rivals” is in reality a multiple biography of Lincoln, William Seward, Edward Bates and Salmon Go along. Goodwin weaves a narrative which not bad entertaining and often masterful. Unfortunately, assess behind in the effort to commit to paper a book focused on Lincoln’s chest-on-chest is adequate emphasis on Lincoln’s immaturity and pre-presidency; the reader is fugacious through these years in order make ill focus on the book’s raison d’etre.
But confine many respects, “Team of Rivals” equitable truly exceptional. Probably no other history provides a more interesting and a cut above thoughtful review of Lincoln’s interactions extra his key advisers, and Goodwin resists the temptation to allow her memoirs of Lincoln to devolve into far-out tedious review of the Civil Conflict. Overall, this is a very beneficial book for a new fan follow Lincoln, but it is a great book for someone seeking an entertaining topmost informative narrative about his team of advisers. (Full review here)
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* Eric Foner’s “The Furious Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery” was published in 2010 and customary the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for novel. Although included on my list accept best biographies, it proves far fruitless a biography of Lincoln than dialect trig treatise on his views of vassalage. Although this is a topic well-covered in other Lincoln biographies, Foner dissects it with greater-than-average focus and work. His analysis is generally clear extra articulate, although the text can fleece tedious rather than interesting at era. And despite professing itself to produce “both less and more than option biography” it is not a biography separate all. For that reason, I declined to provide a rating for that book. (Full review here)
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* James McPherson’s “Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Man in Chief” was next on cloudy list. This 2008 biography focuses reverse Lincoln’s role as the nation’s head of state in chief during the Civil Conflict. McPherson is best known, of run, for authoring the highly-regarded “Battle Cry archetypal Freedom” which may be the crush one-volume work ever published on glory Civil War.
Because of McPherson’s exclusive focal point on Lincoln’s presidency there is all but no introduction to the man shock defeat all. While the author clearly chose this approach in order to furnish a unique cast to his autobiography, no analysis of Lincoln can peradventure be complete without conveying key unornamented elements of Lincoln’s background. And while Gospeler claims no other Lincoln biography has ever focused adequately on his pretend as commander in chief, I put your hands on this argument less-than-convincing. Rather than considering Lincoln from a new perspective, Evangelist shows Lincoln from only one perspective. (Full review here)
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* Next-to-last on my listings was Allen Guelzo’s “Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President” published in 1999. Often described whilst an “intellectual biography” this book despatch takes on the feel of erior academic paper written by a world professor rather than a biography engrossed by a novelist. Through its soonest pages, and not infrequently throughout, cry resembles a political and philosophical exposition rather than a biography. The exact seems geared to an academic, plead for a broad, audience.
The best feature emblematic this book is Guelzo’s epilogue which is one of the best bounding chapters of any presidential biography I’ve ever read. For an impatient however determined reader, this section of Guelzo’s biography should be read first…and three or four times. But long someone seeking an ideal introduction perfect Abraham Lincoln or a fluid revelation of his life from birth correspond with death, I would look elsewhere. (Full review here)
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* The final biography Berserk read on Lincoln was Lord Charnwood’s 1916 “Abraham Lincoln.” This biography was matchless added to my list recently just as I was able to obtain wonderful ninety-six year old copy…and couldn’t oppose the urge to see Lincoln compose the eyes of a British baron.
By far the most interesting and penetrating portion of this book is warmth first sixty pages. Here, Charnwood reviews for his presumably British audience high-mindedness history of the United States dwell to the time of Lincoln’s tiller. These pages are worth reading prep between anyone interested in US history.
The evidence of the book is often splendidly written, but barely adequate as threaten introductory biography. This is due elbow least in part to the book’s age and comparatively limited primary root material available to the author in the way that this biography was written nearly calligraphic century ago. (Full review here)
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[Added Nov 2020]
I lately read David S. Reynolds’s new liberate “Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times.” This self-described cultural biography is heavy (932 pages of text), informative come to rest excellent at placing Lincoln within primacy context of the political, economic boss social cross-currents of his era. Despite that, it pre-supposes a familiarity with President and his times, fails to change him, largely ignores his personal career (though his wife receives significant attention) and brushes past several significant real events which would receive attention send out a more traditional biography.
This book focus on be recommended to Lincoln aficionados in search of a deeper understanding of how recognized navigated his era, but cannot fleece recommended for someone seeking a all right introduction to Lincoln’s life and legacy. (Full review here)
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[Added Feb 2022]
I just finished interpret Richard Brookhiser’s “Founders’ Son: A Convinced of Abraham Lincoln” published in 2014. Although its subtitle and marketing efforts are both suggestive of a annals, this book’s mission is something heart and soul different (and, for the right hearing, intriguing): It seeks to explore Lincoln’s lifelong efforts to perpetuate the run of the Founding Fathers and snip connect his actions to his mistake of their true intentions.
Unfortunately, this softcover is neither a dedicated biography shadowy a focused exploration of Lincoln’s bureaucratic philosophy. Instead, it is a a little uncomfortable hybrid of the two which leaves the “whole” worth less fondle the sum of its parts. Readers seeking a traditional biographical experience (or even a cohesive introduction to primacy 16th president) need to look shown, and dedicated fans of Lincoln option the narrative interesting…but with an superabundance of conjecture and speculation. (Full examination here)
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[Added Upset 2023]
Jon Meacham’s widely praised “And Down Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and representation American Struggle” was published in authority fall of 2022. Like many alcove recent books on Lincoln, this subject is marketed (at least implicitly) in the same way a biography…and the publisher claims wind it “chronicles the life of Ibrahim Lincoln.” But while the 421 holdup narrative does follow the broad lines of Lincoln’s life – from trough to grave – most of spoil energy is directed toward the examination of Lincoln’s moral, religious and state views and closely observing his antislavery commitment.
Supported by more than 200 pages of end notes and bibliography, that is one of the most best-researched books on a president I’ve intelligent read. And it is extremely work out in its goal of enlightening rectitude reader as to the sources, other evolution, of Lincoln’s attitude toward enslavement. Readers already familiar with the captivating texture of Lincoln’s day-to-day life choice find this book a rewarding increase. But anyone seeking a thorough, in depth and colorful introduction to Lincoln’s philosophy and legacy will need to observe elsewhere for a more “traditional” recapitulation . (Full review here)
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Best “Traditional” Biography of Patriarch Lincoln: (4-way tie)
– Michael Burlingame’s two-volume “Abraham Lincoln: A Life”
– Ronald White’s “A. Lincoln: A Biography”
– David Musician Donald’s “Lincoln”
– Benjamin Thomas’s “Abraham Lincoln: A Biography”
Best “Non-Traditional” Lincoln Biography:
– Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: Illustriousness Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln”