Which Abraham Lincoln biography is the Best One?

June 15, 2010 | Winstonwolf33

[winstonwolf33]

I'm planning on reading a biography of Abraham Lincoln for a nice non-fiction change of pace. As you can imagine, there's so many Lincoln biographies out there I wouldn't know where to begin! Certainly, I would like to begin with the cream of the crop, but which one would it be? Even if I do a search in Amazon.com for Abraham Lincoln biographies sorted by five-star average customer reviews, a truckload of titles pop out.

Here's just a few of those titles:

Lincoln and His Admirals by Craig L. Symonds

Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words (Vintage) by Douglas L. Wilson

Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography by Jr. Philip B. Kunhardt, Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt, and David Herbert Donald

The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words by Ronald C. White

Lincoln as I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies by Harold Holzer

A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours by W. Emerson Reck

The Physical Lincoln Complete by John G. Sotos

Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & the War Years (Library of the Presidents) by Carl Sandburg

The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln: The Story of America's Most Reviled President by Larry Tagg

Abe's Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Doreen Rappaport and Kadir Nelson

Lincoln's Other White House: The Untold Story of the Man and His Presidency by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein

Abraham Lincoln For The Defense by Warren Bull (Paperback - June 9, 2003)

Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life : The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by William Henry Herndon and Jesse William Weik

Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith by G. Frederick Owen

Tell Me of Lincoln: Memories of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and Life in Old New York by James Edward Kelly, William B. Styple, and James E. Kelly

The Essential Lincoln by Tim Davidson

With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union by William C. Harris (Paperback - June 24, 1999)

So after a while, I pretty much gave up on Amazon and decided to just jump in here and see if I can get some feedback from my fellow Freepers. Any recommendations?

[SJSAMPLE]

[jessduntno]

“We won, get over it! Hahahahaha!”

“We?”

[N. Theknow]

Which Abraham Lincoln biography is the Best One?

I've read several.

They all have the same ending.

[Constitution Day]

Dang! I got distracted and I was too late!

[Genoa]

We, the brave defenders of the glorious laws and Constitution of the United States.

[Non-Sequitur]

Let’s see how long it takes Lincoln’s Yankee cheering section to get here.

It took the confederate Lincoln loathers two minutes and one second.

[stainlessbanner]

Stay away from admitted plagiarists too

[nickcarraway]

The one by Kitty Kelly?

[jessduntno]

“We, the brave defenders of the glorious laws and Constitution of the United States.”

Oh. I thought you meant the aholes that corrupted a perfectly good Republic and dragged it into a European style democracy.

[RKBA Democrat]

“We won, get over it! Hahahahaha!”

Yup, the south did win. Not the war, but the peace.

[ml/nj]

Look for one that discusses the "Baltimore Plot." It's the single incident that reveals the character of the man.

ML/NJ

[Genoa]

Oh. I thought you meant the aholes that corrupted a perfectly good Republic and dragged it into a European style democracy.

That came later.

[RKBA Democrat]

“Post quick, make popcorn”

Yep. The Lincoln-worshippers are already throwing themselves prostrate. The southerners are already here to correct the more egregrious blasphemies. Here we go again.

[Genoa]

In all fairness, he hated to sneak into the capital under cloak of darkness, but was talked into it by his security people. Lawless rebel blackguards infested Baltimore and there was real concern. By the way, he did not disguise himself as a Scotsman. That was an urban legend.

[mel]

How many people died in Civil war, not worth it in my opinion.

[Genoa]

How many people died in Civil war, not worth it in my opinion.

Everybody, both sides, thought it would be a quick victory, over by June. Way too much naivete, pride, and foolishness, north and south.

[Non-Sequitur]

How many people died in Civil war, not worth it in my opinion.

What war was worth it? In your opinion.

[Genoa]

Mexican.

[Pining_4_TX]

Ping!

[Tublecane]

“’Team of Rivals’ by Doris Kearns Goodwin”

This book is wildly popular, so unless it’s a huge fluke it can’t be all bad. But I think Goodwin is a hack historian and mediocre writer. More importantly, the main conceit of the book—that somehow internal rivalry made Lincoln’s administration strong and that Lincoln is somehow a genius for having planned it that way—remains largely unexplored. That is because it’s not teneable. Rivalry makes administrations rivalrous, not productive.

We all know the benefit of healthy competition, but I don’t see the application to Lincoln’s administration, and frankly I don’t see them as exceptionally successful. As for Lincoln being a genius, well, he is, but not because he assembled a team of rivals. In fact, that had nothing at all to do with Lincoln and everything to do with the Republican party being brand new and not yet having established a firm ideological range.

What’s left are interesting stories, naturally, those being interesting times. But thematically, it is empty.