I joined the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia (aka, Lincoln Group of DC; aka, LGDC) in January 2012, almost exactly 15 years ago. During that time, I have contributed several articles for the quarterly newsletter called The Lincolnian, capably edited since the 1990s by Wendy Swanson. In the fall of 2015, I began a book review column that ran for over 10 years in 41 Lincolnian issues. In each issue I usually presented two reviews – one from recent literature (that year or the previous) and one from the classic or more obscure literature – for a total of 82 book reviews. The fall issue carried my final review as I turned the column over to another reviewer.
Rather than review a pair of books, I used my final space to review the ten years of reviews. The results were enlightening. While the Lincolnian is available only to Lincoln Group of DC members (you can join here), I’ve provided my final review below to give a sense of the decade. Click the arrows on the bottom frame to read additional pages.
I noted in my final column that I intentionally didn’t review my own books. Over the course of ten years, I published three books on Lincoln: Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, and Lincoln in New England. I was happy to see that the new reviewer, Tom Peet, opted to review my newest book, Lincoln in New England, in his first column. I’ll post that review here in the future. Tom will continue to follow my format of two reviews per issue. Meanwhile, I will continue to write articles on various topics for the Lincolnian, as well as articles in other venues such as this one in the Lincoln Herald.
Finally, I’ll be in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania next week for the annual Lincoln Forum and will have books to sign. Hopefully I’ll see you there.
Now Available: Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours. Or Order directly at:
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David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of many books on Abraham Lincoln, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison.
