Abraham Lincoln Book Acquisitions for 2019

Books 2019This was a big year in Abraham Lincoln book acquisitions. My average number of new books acquired has been a fairly consistent 58 books over each of the last five years. This year was 82. While that’s a big jump from my average, it still falls short of the 98 I acquired back in 2013.

Part of the reason was that I started receiving books from publishers because of my book reviews. I write two book reviews per quarter (eight per year) for The Lincolnian, the Lincoln Group of DC‘s newsletter. I’ve also had two reviews published in Civil War Times this past year and expect to have more next year. The magazines, journals, and newspapers in which I publish reviews should expand in 2020. I also received books as part of my responsibilities for the Abraham Lincoln Institute book award evaluation committee. Still, most of the books I purchase through various bookselling outlets, including the onsite bookstore at the annual Lincoln Forum.

Of the total acquired in 2019, 18 are new books published this year. Ten books on the list are signed, most directly to me by the author (e.g., during this year’s Lincoln Forum or when they are guest speakers for the Lincoln Group of DC’s monthly dinners). While many of the books are new, most go back in time. The oldest acquired this year is a 1944 pamphlet style book by Isaac Frost comparing Oliver Cromwell and Abraham Lincoln. The next oldest is a classic book by Lincoln scholar J.G. Randall called Lincoln: The Liberal Statesman, published in 1947. There are also important reference works like Fehrenbacher’s Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln and Boritt’s book of Lincoln quotations.

With over 15,000 books on Lincoln extant, this seemed to be the year for books on peripheral figures close to Lincoln. Newspapermen were well covered, including books on Horace Greeley, Charles A. Dana, Noah Brooks, and Lincoln’s private secretary, John G. Nicolay. Books ranged from blockbuster’s like Sidney Blumenthal’s All The Powers of Earth to the lesser known but important Timothy Good’s We Saw Lincoln Shot. Books also covered Abe’s Youth in Indiana and Lincoln and the Blackhawk War in Illinois. On the more technical side was the most recent assessment of Lincoln’s use of Euclid in his speeches by David Hirsch and Dan Van Haften called The Tyranny of Public Discourse.

Since I’m a big fan of both, one of my favorite books acquired this year is Abraham Lincoln Crossword Puzzles, although I have as yet not figured out how to do the puzzles but leave the book unblemished.

Collecting all these books means I do a lot of reading. While I can’t claim to have read all of them, I have read many of them and plan to read the rest over time. And, of course, acquire even more. Note to publishers: I’m always open to receiving books in return for an honest review via my various venues, including Goodreads and Amazon.

See the 2019 list showing author/title/publication date below my signature blurb below.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

Here is the 2019 list! [Author, Title, Date of Publication]

The Lincoln Country: From These Humble Beginnings…to Immortality
Abraham Lincoln Crossword Puzzles 2014
Bartelt, William E. and Claybourn, Joshua A. (Eds) Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President 2019
Bartelt, William E. and Claybourn, Joshua A. (Eds) Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President 2019
Bayard, Louis Courting Mr. Lincoln (A Novel) 2019
Bayne, Julia Taft Tad Lincoln’s Father 2001
Bennett, Jr., Lerone Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream 1999
Blumenthal, Sidney All the Powers of Earth 1856-1860: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 3 2019
Blumenthal, Sidney All the Powers of Earth 1856-1860: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 3 2019
Blumenthal, Sidney All the Powers of Earth 1856-1860: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 3 2019
Bordewich, Fergus M. America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union 2012
Boritt, Gabor S. (ed) Of the People, By the People, For the People and other Quotations 1996
Brands, H.W. Heirs of The Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, The Second Generation of American Giants 2018
Brown, Thomas J. The Public Art of Civil War Commemoration: A Brief History with Documents 2004
Carden, Allen and Ebert, Thomas J. John George Nicolay: The Man in Lincoln’s Shadow 2019
Cartmell, Donald The Civil War Up Close 2005
Casson, Herbert N. Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work 1971
Chadwick, Bruce Lincoln For President: An Unlikely Candidate, An Audacious Strategy, and the Victory No One Saw Coming 2009
Conwell, Russell H. Why Lincoln Laughed 1922
Coulson, Thomas Joseph Henry: His Life & Work 1950
Delbanco, Andrew The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War 2018
Donald, David Herbert and Hozler, Harold (Eds) Lincoln in the Times: The Life of Abraham Lincoln as Originally Reported in the New York Times 2005
Efflandt, Lloyd H. Lincoln and the Black Hawk War 1991
Eifert, Virginia S. The Buffalo Trace 1957
Fehrenbacher, Don E. Lincoln in Text and Context: Collected Essays 1987
Fehrenbacher, Don E. and Fehrenbacher, Virginia (Compiled and Edited by) Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln 1996
Fleischner, Jennifer Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave 2003
Foot, Isaac Oliver Cromwell and Abraham Lincoln: A Comparison 1944
Freehling, William W. The South vs The South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the course of the Civil War 2001
Gates, Henry Louis Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow 2019
Good, Timothy S. We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts 1995
Grafton, John (Compiler and Historical Notes) Abraham Lincoln Great Speeches 1991
Guarneri, Carl J. Lincoln’s Informer: Charles A. Dana and the Inside Story of the Union War 2019
Guelzo, Allen C. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President 1999
Handlin, Oscar and Lilian Abraham Lincoln and the Union 1980
Harris, Laurie Lanzen How to Analyze the Works of Abraham Lincoln 2013
Hirsch, David and Van Haften, Dan The Tyranny of Public Discourse: Abraham Lincoln’s Six-Element Antidote for Meaningful and Persuasive Writing 2019
Hirsch, David and Van Haften, Dan The Tyranny of Public Discourse: Abraham Lincoln’s Six-Element Antidote for Meaningful and Persuasive Writing 2019
Horner, Harlan Hoyt Lincoln and Greeley 1953
Jefferson, Thomas (edited and notes by David Waldstreicher) Notes on the State of Virginia 2002
Johannsen, Robert W. (Ed.) The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 1965
Kalten, D.M. The Duel: Abraham Lincoln and Rebecca 2016
Kantor, MacKinlay Andersonville 1955
Kimmel, Stanley Mr. Lincoln’s Washington: A Panorama of Events in Washington from 1861 to 1865 Taken From Local Newspapers and with over 250 Illustrations 1957
Klingaman, William K. and Klingaman, Nicholas P The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History 2013
Knoles, George Harmon (Ed) The Crisis of the Union 1965
Larson, John Lauritz Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States 2001
Lonn, Ella Salt as a Factor in the Confederacy 1965
Lorant, Stefan Lincoln: A Picture Story of His Life 1979
Lowry, Thomas P. Don’t Shoot That Boy!: Abraham Lincoln and Military Justice 1999
Lundberg, James M. Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood 2019
McCormick, Cyrus The Century of the Reaper 1931
Meltzer, Milton (ed) and Alcorn, Stephen (illustrator) Lincoln in His Own Words 1993
Myers, James E. The Astonishing Saber Duel of Abraham Lincoln 1969
Nevins, Allan and Irving Stone (Eds) Lincoln: A Contemporary Portrait 1962
Olmstead, Frederick Law (with Arthur Schlesinger, Editor) The Cotton Kingdom: The Classic First-Hand Account of the Slave System in the Years Preceding the Civil War 1969
Patterson, Matt Union of Hearts: The Abraham Lincoln & Ann Rutledge Story 2000
Paull, Bonnie E. and Hart, Richard E. Lincoln’s Springfield Neighborhood 2015
Phillips, Ulrich B. Life & Labor in the Old South 1963
Puleo, Stephen American Treasures: The Secret Efforts to Save the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address 2016
Randall, J.G. Lincoln: The Liberal Statesman 1947
Randall, J.G. Constitutional Problems Under Lincoln 1964
Reninger, Marion Wallace My Lincoln Letter 1953
Rhoads, Mark Q. Land of Lincoln: Thy Wondrous Story: Through the Eyes of the Illinois State Society 2013
Roske, Ralph J. and Van Doren, Charles Lincoln’s Commando: The Biography of Commander W.B. Cushing, U.S.N. 1957
Shaw, Robert (photographer) and Burlingame, Michael (text) Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way: The America Lincoln Knew 2012
Sideman, Belle Becker and Friedman, Lillian (Eds) Europe Looks at the Civil War 1960
Soodhalter, Ron Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave Trader 2006
Spielvogel, J. Christian Interpreting Sacred Ground: The Rhetoric of National Civil War Parks and Battlefields 2013
Splaine, John A Companion to the Lincoln Douglas Debates 1994
Stephenson, Nathaniel Wright Abraham Lincoln and the Union, A Chronicle of the Embattled North 1918
Tagg, Larry The Battles that Made Abraham Lincoln: How Lincoln Mastered His Enemies to Win the Civil War, Free the Slaves, and Preserve the Union 2012
Taylor, John M. While Cannons Roared: The Civil War Behind the Lines 1997
Temple, Wayne C. “The Taste Is In My Mouth A Little…”: Lincoln’s Victuals and Potables 2004
Temple, Wayne C.; Edited by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis Lincoln’s Confidant: The Life of Noah Brooks 2019
Varon, Elizabeth R. Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War 2019
Weber, Karl (Ed.) Lincoln: A President for the Ages (Companion Essays to the Movie) 2012
Weiner, Greg Old Whigs: Burke, Lincoln, and the Politics of Prudence 2019
Wert, Jeffry D. Civil War Barons: The Tycoons, Entrepreneurs, Inventors, and Visionaries Who Forged Victory and Shaped a Nation 2018
Wilson, Steven President Lincoln’s Spy 2008
Winkle, Kenneth J. The Young Eagle: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln 2001
Zimmerman, Dwight Jon; Illustrated by Wayne Vansant The Hammer and the Anvil: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the End of Slavery in America 2012

About David J. Kent

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of books on Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln. His website is www.davidjkent-writer.com.
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6 Comments

  1. Need more bookshelves? 😛

  2. Nothing builds intelligence, nothing grows the seeds of curiosity, nothing feeds the hunger for knowledge as much as books.

  3. You’ll make it!

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