Category: Book Review

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Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin (and a book review of Rebel Giants)

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Abraham LincolnEach born on February 12, 1809 in very different parts of the world, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin never met. Darwin spent five years traveling the world on The Beagle and eventually defined how we think about life. Lincoln spent four years staying pretty much in Washington DC and eventually came to define how we think of leadership.

To examine these two men who each went on to have a dramatic impact on the future, I review a book called Rebel Giants: The Revolutionary Lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, by David R. Contosta. The author takes us back and forth between the parallel lives of these two great thinkers.

Parallel in terms of age and impact, but not on much else it seems. While Contosta notes that they both lost their mothers in childhood, had strained relations with their fathers, went “through years of searching for a direction in their lives,” and struggled with religious doubt, the similarities come off as largely contrived. The differences are much more evident. Lincoln was born a poor pioneer while Darwin inherited wealth from his father and wife (an heiress to the Wedgewood pottery fortune). Lincoln went to school “by littles” while Darwin attended the best schools money could buy. Lincoln was of generally robust health, though did sometimes suffer from depression, while Darwin had severe health problems all his life. Lincoln sought out politics and the enamor of the crowds while Darwin was largely reclusive, preferring to let his writing and others carry his work forward.

Darwin 1854Still, the book toggles between Lincoln’s life and Darwin’s life, comparing the two at key junctures in their maturation as thinkers, family men, and leaders. Because they were the same age many of these life choices occurred at roughly the same period of time. Contosta notes that both put off making decisions as to their life’s work since neither really wanted to follow too closely in the footsteps of their fathers. Lincoln traveled down the Mississippi on a flat boat before settling for some years in New Salem, Illinois. Darwin traveled around the world by ship for five years doing the research that would eventually lead to his most famous works. Once this phase was completed they each “found their calling,” Lincoln in politics and the law, Darwin in development and experimentation on what would eventually be called evolution.

During the time of their greatest achievements it seems unlikely that Lincoln had heard of Darwin or followed his work. After all, Darwin’s “Origin of Species” was published just days after Lincoln’s election as President and with Civil War brewing he likely was a tad busy. Darwin, however, had heard of Lincoln once the war started. He was what could be called an abolitionist and he carried on a long letter correspondence with botanist Asa Gray at Harvard regarding the progress of the war and slavery in general. Contosta only touches on this correspondence but the glimpse he gave makes me want to see more of these letters.

Rebel Giants Darwin and LincolnThe book spends some time after the early death of Lincoln and the much later death of Darwin to assess their impact on the world. Clearly the emancipation of the slaves and the subsequent problems with reconstruction led to issues experienced for another century (and continuing). And clearly Darwin’s theory of natural selection challenged the conventional thinking of the day. History has shown that many would “adapt” the work of these two influential men to serve their own purposes (e.g., “social Darwinism,” which Darwin would have been aghast to see).

Overall this 2008 book is an interesting read and a fascinating glimpse into the lives of these men. Based on my own knowledge I have some quibbles with what I see as the superficiality of the information about Lincoln, and perhaps the same is true for Darwin as I’m less familiar with the details of his personal life. But that won’t detract from reading for most people. I recommend the book, especially for anyone who would like better to understand the process leading up to Darwin’s greatest, and most controversial, contributions to modern knowledge.

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Berry and Lincoln: Frontier Merchants by Zarel C. Spears and Robert S. Barton (A Book Review)

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Abraham LincolnThis delightful book published in 1947 is considered a classic in Abraham Lincoln literature, and is fairly rarely found on the book market.  The subtitle “The Store that ‘Winked Out,’” is in reference to Lincoln’s famous quote about how at one time he was a partner in a general store and that it sort of fell out of existence (winked out).  Lincoln’s time as a storekeeper is generally given short mention in the big full life biographies of him, and usually to state that Lincoln’s partner died a drunkard and Lincoln, in his famous honesty, took on and eventually paid all debts.

Spears and Barton have dug into the scant information available and come up with a somewhat different and certainly better-rounded picture.  They fill out the portrait of William F. Berry to an extent no one has ever done, in part because Zarel C. Spears is a descendant of the Berry clan.  This historical relationship possibly influences the writing to a degree, but Spears and Berry document their story well and so it seems that their tale has considerable merit.

In short, Lincoln found himself a 22 year old stranded in the tiny hamlet of New Salem, Illinois in 1832.  Largely by chance he entered into a partnership with William Berry, another young man whom Lincoln had known from their just completed tours in the Black Hawk wars.  The partnership survived several twists and turns, and a move to a larger building across the muddy street, before “winking out” in 1834.  The store never made much money, as there was stiff competition in a town whose peak population was only around 100 people.

The authors do a good job of piecing together the limited records of the day, finding court records of notes signed and suits against those notes (notes are essentially IOUs and were commonly used in the cash-poor wilderness prior to the advent of a formal banking system).  In reconstructing the debt burden, the authors find that most of the debt was attributable to Lincoln himself.  This isn’t surprising given that he had no money at the time and thus needed to move forward on credit.  Berry actually came from a fairly influential family in the area and co-signed Lincoln’s notes and at one point actually put his house up as collateral on one debt (for $250) that had come due in order to protect his own half interest in the store.  Income to the store was meager in the best of times and both partners worked other jobs to keep their heads above water – Lincoln as postmaster and a surveyor, Berry as constable.  Berry also started college, but after one year he was back home and had died from some illness (many suspect drunkenness but the authors, while not disputing it, suggest otherwise).  In his last few weeks home before Berry’s death the store was sold at auction to pay off the debts.  Not long after Lincoln began his first of four terms in the Illinois state legislature.

The book is a fascinating and in-depth look at this little known period in Lincoln (and Berry)’s lives.  The authors do justice to both of these men, as well as give us an insight into the hardships of frontier life in the antebellum period of American history.

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We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends by David Herbert Donald (A Book Review)

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Abraham LincolnSteven Spielberg’s Lincoln is based in part on the marvelous book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which explores Abraham Lincoln’s relationships with his political rivals. But another author explores the relationships Lincoln had with male friends, some of whom were his rivals and some of whom were intimate companions. David Herbert Donald, is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the book Lincoln, for which he won the Lincoln Prize and had a long run on the New York Times bestseller list.  With We Are Lincoln Men Donald takes us through the rather short list of people that Abraham Lincoln could have considered to be friends.  Somewhat surprisingly given his amicability and story telling powers, Lincoln did not have many close friendships in his life.  Donald brings us into the ones he had.

He begins with a review of Lincoln’s upbringing, one which really didn’t see him build any real long lasting friendships.   Donald then spends some time parsing the one man with whom Lincoln probably had his most intense friendship, Joshua F. Speed.  Some have suggested that the Lincoln/Speed friendship was more than just friends, but Donald dispels this notion and puts us within the context of the times.  Lincoln’s long law partnership with William H. Herndon – whom he called Billy – is well documented by Donald, as was Lincoln’s friendship with Illinois Senator Orville Browning.  Browning became Lincoln’s confidant, and eventually his strongest supporter in Congress.  Even here, however, the friendship could not withstand differences in the two men’s views of Emancipation and eventually they drifted apart to the point where Lincoln thrice passed over Browning for Supreme Court Justice.

The best chapter is probably the one on Lincoln’s friendship with William H. Seward.  Initially competitors – Seward was expected to get the nomination for President that Lincoln ended up winning – the two men developed into a formidable team whose mutual respect led to an intense friendship on which each depended on the other.  Seward himself is a interesting case study, and I look forward to receiving my signed copy of Walter Stahr‘s new biography of him soon.  The final chapter examines Lincoln’s relationship with his two young private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay.  These two began with simple devotion to the president, and grew into his most ardent supporters and to some extent confidants, before becoming in the end his official biographers.

Donald does great justice to the complex interactions Lincoln had with these men.  Lincoln was not a particularly open man, and friendships came to him with difficulty. In some cases his reserve and his policies led to discord, but in all cases there was respect.  And perhaps respectfulness is a better word than friendship to describe how Lincoln interacted with those he called “friends.”  This book is an easy and a welcome read.

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Abraham Lincoln Book Review – The Oliver R. Barrett Lincoln Collection

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Abraham LincolnOf the estimated 15,000 or more books written about Abraham Lincoln, I have about 700 in my collection. As I do the research for my next book I have been reading some key tomes and came across a rather unique volume called The Immortal Autograph Letters…Lincolniana Collected by the Late Oliver R. Barrett.

This is a truly amazing book, for two reasons that I will get to in a moment.  The book is really the hard bound catalog of the public auction of the Oliver R. Barrett collection, a sale held in February 1952 by Parke-Bernet Galleries.  While that may sound a little dry, I assure you the book offers a wealth of historical information that is both insightful and exciting.

Oliver R. Barrett amassed a private collection of Abraham Lincoln that was second to no one.  After his death in the latter part of the first half of the 20th Century, a public auction was held of his collection.  This hard bound version of the catalog documents every one of the 842 items sold.  In the collection there are many documents, letters, manuscripts, portraits, personal relics, and a multitude of other “Lincolniana.”  Many are handwritten letters by Lincoln himself, others are letters by Secretary of State Seward, various Generals and other key players in the Civil War, and friends.  There are even letters from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee, and others in the Confederacy.  All of these documents, and associated photographs and relics, are presented and were sold in roughly chronological order, so one can read the summaries of each item and excerpts from important letters to experience the history of the 1850s leading up to Lincoln’s election, through the Civil War itself, and then the immediate reactions to Lincoln’s assassination.

The second feature that makes my particular copy of this book extraordinary is that one of the attendees of the auction has penciled in next to each and every item the sale price, and if known, the buyer.  To see what collectors paid for each item is a wonderful insight into the value people put on Lincoln almost 100 years after his death.  Most items sold for less than $100, but many sold in the hundreds to thousands of dollars.  The highest price paid for any one item was $35,000 for a series of 14 letters from Lincoln to his best friend Joshua Fry Speed.  The letters provide a rare insight into Lincoln’s personal feelings and friendships as Lincoln met Speed when he first moved to Springfield, Illinois to begin his law career and continued throughout his life.

The auction attendee has gone a step further and has at the end of the book written in pencil a table totaling the sale prices for each of the four sessions held over two days, and the grand total, which amounted to $273,632.50.  Keep in mind that this was in 1952 and in current dollars would amount to many millions of dollars.

I am privileged to own this first edition annotated copy.  I expected a rather dull list of items sold at auction, but what I found was an amazing insight into history.

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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

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Abraham Lincoln Vampire HunterAbraham Lincoln seems to be all the rage in the movie theaters these days.  While the big screen is mostly focused on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, there is also a lesser known video out called Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies.

I kid you not.

I haven’t seen the Vampire Hunter movie yet (nor the Zombie movie), but I did read the book by Seth Grahame-Smith. In fact, I have a first edition inscribed and signed to me by Grahame-Smith himself (thank you Abraham Lincoln Book Shop).  To be honest, I don’t read a lot of fiction these days and clearly this book is rather more bizarre than any of the other books I’ve read on Abraham Lincoln. Grahame-Smith takes the well-known icon of history and weaves a story that almost seems plausible at times. Not surprising from a man who also is the best-selling author of a book called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”

Given the success of both the book and the movie, it’s safe to say that Grahame-Smith has found his writing niche.

I won’t give away too much of the book. Suffice to say that the title accurately describes the premise. It turns out that the death of Lincoln’s mother when he was nine years old, previously thought to be “milk sickness,” was really at the hands of a vampire to whom Lincoln’s father owed money. Which, of course, explains why Lincoln didn’t get along too well with his father for the rest of his life. What follows is a visit from “Henry” and a lifetime pursuing vampires while also flat-boating down the Mississippi, serving in the Illinois state legislature and the US House of Representatives, building a law career, and eventually becoming President of the United States. The book seems a lot like the movie Forrest Gump in the sense that vampires seem to appear alongside well-known events and people as Lincoln moves through his life. And death.

Overall I found the book enjoyable, if not always exactly right on the historical fact (even given the creative license of having vampires play a key role in Lincoln’s life), but people who like Lincoln will be happy enough if they can suspend belief a bit. People who like vampires will probably find it believable enough. It isn’t as spell-binding as the latest Michael Connelly or Stephen King thrillers, but it’s well worth the read.

Next up – the movie itself!

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