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Abraham Lincoln Book Acquisitions for 2018

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Lincoln book towerMy Abraham Lincoln book collection continues to grow, quickly filling the new library space I created last year. I acquired 69 new Lincoln books in 2018. This compares to 59 in 2017, 43 in 2016, and 59 and 60 books obtained in 2015 and 2014, respectively. My big year was the 98 books in 2013.

The oldest book acquired was published in 1893, while the newest book was officially published in 2019 (released in December 2018). Of the 69 books, 10 were new books published in 2018 (plus the one 2019 official date). I was able to find books from a variety of places. In addition to the usual Amazon/Barnes and Noble, books came to me from various library books sales, used book stores (including Bob’s Bookstore in Charleston, IL), and at stops during my two big Chasing Abraham Lincoln road trips. I also picked up books at the annual Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg, PA, plus won a couple of books in the Lincoln Group of DC and Civil War Round Table of DC raffles.

The list of books follows my signature block. Among them are some unique examples of Lincoln scholarship: Lincoln and the Irish by Niall O’Dowd; They Knew Lincoln by John Washington (originally published in 1942 and reprinted in 2018 with an introduction by Kate Masur); a set of five small booklets with new Introductions by preeminent Lincoln scholars; and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership in Turbulent Times. Look for my published review of Goodwin’s book in the next issue of Civil War Times magazine.

Several of the books are signed and inscribed to me by their authors. Both Anna Gibson Holloway and Jonathan W. White inscribed my copy of their book, Our Little Monitor, during the annual Battle of Hampton Roads conference this year. I’m doubly honored because Anna says it was the very first book she has ever signed for a fan. During the Lincoln Forum I was happy to have conversations with and get my copies of their books inscribed by David Blight (Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom), Kate Masur (They Knew Lincoln), and Harold Holzer (Monument Man: The Life & Art of Daniel Chester French). French, of course, is the man who created the iconic statue of Lincoln that graces the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

I’m sure I’ll continue to collect dozens of new (and new to me) Lincoln books in 2019. My new library shelves seem to be filling up rather quickly, so I may have to start planning where I’m going to put the overflow. Maybe I need to buy a bigger house.

I’m hard at work on my new Abraham Lincoln book, plus beginning the process of editing a compendium volume for the Lincoln Group of DC. If that wasn’t enough, on my most recent travel to Asia I started writing a historical science fiction novel featuring Lincoln and his science adviser, Joseph Henry. My previous Lincoln book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, is into a second printing and available at Barnes and Noble stores nationwide.

Also, if you’re not already a member of the Lincoln Group of DC, please consider joining. In addition to the monthly dinner meetings with Lincoln scholar presentations, we have a monthly Lincoln book study group, periodic special events, tours, and more. And with a new year approaching, we’re planning to introduce even more to our members, including new activities for students and non-scholars. Take a look at our Lincoln Group of DC website and contact me or any of the other officers for more information.

Finally, a reminder that I’ve begun something I call the Abraham Lincoln Bibliography Project in which I plan to catalog the known books about Abraham Lincoln. I’ll include only actual books, not other documents and not pamphlets. As the website develops I’ll add a searchable database, book reviews, lists of books by topic (e.g., assassination, general biography, law career), and summary papers for those topics. The idea is to create a useful resource for both Lincoln researchers and the general public. Check out the blog and stay tuned.

See the 2017 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 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 2018 list! [Author, Title, Date of Publication]

Abraham Lincoln: A Living Legacy: A Guide to Three Abraham Lincoln National Park Sites 2008
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: A Tribute of the Nations 2009
Lincoln: Legacy of the Great Emancipator (Intro by Edna Greene Medford) 2009
Lincoln and His Critics (Intro by Eric Foner) 2009
Lincoln as Self-Made Man (Intro by Catherine Clinton) 2009
Lincoln as American Redeemer (Intro by Harold Holzer) 2009
Lincoln as Literary Genius (Intro by Ted Widmer) 2009
Abrams, Dan and Fisher, David Lincoln’s Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency 2018
Alter, Donald R. The Lincoln Legend and Other Programs 1956
Arnold, Isaac N. The Life of Abraham Lincoln 1893
Baker, C.T. Sand Creek Landing Greets the Lincolns: An Historical Sketch of Pioneer Days in This Community and County 1931
Blight, David W. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom 2018
Burlingame, Michael Lincoln and the Civil War 2011
Burstein, Andrew Lincoln Dreamt He Died: The Midnight Visions of Remarkable Americans From Colonial Times to Freud 2013
Carwardine, Richard Lincoln’s Sense of Humor 2017
Carwardine, Richard and Sexton, Jay (Eds) The Global Lincoln 2011
Chapman, Ervin Latest Light on Abraham Lincoln and War-time Memories 1917
DeRose, Chris The Presidents’ War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them 2014
Donald, David Herbert (ed) Inside Lincoln’s Cabinet: The Civil War Diaries of Salmon P. Chase 1954
Fornieri, Joseph R. The Language of Liberty: The Political Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln 2003
Fraysse, Olivier (translated by Sylvia Neely) Lincoln, Land, and Labor, 1809-60 1994
Freehling, William W. Becoming Lincoln 2018
Furtwangler, Albert Assassin on Stage: Brutus, Hamlet, and the Death of Lincoln 1991
Goodwin, Doris Kearns Leadership in Turbulent Times 2018
Gross, Ruth Belov True Stories About Abraham Lincoln 1973
Guelzo, Allen C. Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas 2009
Guttridge, Leonard F. and Neff, Ray A. Dark Union: The Secret Web of Profiteers, Politicians, and Booth Conspirators That Led to Lincoln’s Death 2003
Hogan, Michael Abraham Lincoln and Mexico: A History of Courage, Intrigue, and Unlikely Friendships 2016
Holloway, Anna Gibson and White, Jonathan W. Our Little Monitor: Theh Greatest Invention of the Civil War 2018
Holmes, Fred L. Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way: The Log Book of a Pilgrim to the Lincoln Country 1930
Holzer, Harold Monument Man: The Life & Art of Daniel Chester French 2019
Jepsen, Thomas C. My Sisters Telegraphic: Women in the Telegraph Office, 1846-1950 2000
Johnson, David Alan The Last Weeks of Abraham Lincoln: A Day-By-Day Account of His Personal, Political, and Military Challenges 2018
Kauffman, Michael W. American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies 2004
Kauffman, Michael W. In the Footsteps of an Assassin: An Illustrated History and Guided Tour of the Lincoln Assassination and Escape Route of John Wilkes Booth 2012
King, C.J. Four Marys and a Jessie: The Story of the Lincoln Women 2005
Larson, Kate Clifford The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln 2008
Lehrman, Lewis E. Lincoln & Churchill: Statesmen at War 2018
Maihafer, Harry J. War of Words: Abraham Lincoln & The Civil War Press 2001
McGinnis, Ralph Y. and Smith, Calvin N. (Eds) Abraham Lincoln and the Western Territories 1994
McPherson, James M. (Ed) “We Cannot Escape History”: Lincoln and the Last Best Hope of Earth 1995
Morris, Roy Jr. The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln’s Thirty-Year Struggle With Stephen Douglas For The Heart and Soul of America 2008
Nathan, Adele Gutman The First Transatlantic Cable 1959
Neely, Mark E. Jr. The Boundaries of American Political Culture in the Civil War Era 2005
Neely, Mark E. Jr. Lincoln and the Democrats: The Politics of Opposition in the Civil War 2017
Nicolay, Helen The Boys’ Life of Abraham Lincoln 1933
Niebuhr, Gustav Lincoln’s Bishop: A President A Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors 2014
North, Sterling Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House 1956
O’Dowd, Niall Lincoln and the Irish: The Untold Story of How the Irish Helped Abraham Lincoln Save the Union 2018
Ostendorf, Lloyd Abraham Lincoln: The Boy, The Man 1962
Pitch, Anthony S. They Have Killed Papa Dead! The Road to Ford’s Theatre, Abraham Lincoln’s Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance 2018
Pratt, Harry E. Concerning Mr. Lincoln: In Which Abraham Lincoln is Pictured as he Appeared to Letter Writers of his Time 1944
Puleo, Stephen The Caning: The Assault That Drove America to Civil War 2012
Randall, J.G. Lincoln and the South 1946
Ross, Ishbel The President’s Wife: Mary Todd Lincoln 1973
Segal, Charles M. (Editor, Compiler and Annotator) Conversations with Lincoln 1961
Simon, John Y., Holzer, Harold, and Vogel, Dawn (Eds) Lincoln Revisited 2007
Speed, Joshua Fry Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, And Notes on a Visit to California 2014
Starr, John W., Jr. Lincoln and the Railroads 1927
Stephenson, Nathaniel Wright Lincoln 1922
Striner, Richard Lincoln’s Way: How Six Great Presidents Created American Power 2012
Tackach, James Lincoln and the Natural Environment 2019
Tucker, Wilson The Lincoln Hunters 1958
Turner, Justin G. and Turner, Linda Levitt Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters 1987
Villard, Harold G. and Oswald Garrison Lincoln on the Eve of ’61: A Journalist’s Story by Henry Villard 1941
Washington, John E. with introduction by Kate Masur They Knew Lincoln 2018
Weaver, John D. Tad Lincoln: Mischief-Maker in the White House 1963
White, Ronald C. Jr. A. Lincoln: A Biography 2009
Abraham Lincoln 1958

 

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Visiting Sarah Lincoln – Lincoln State Park, Indiana

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Lincoln State Park, Lincoln City, IndianaDirectly across the road from the Lincoln Boyhood National Monument in the aptly named Lincoln City, Indiana is Lincoln State Park. I paid the $9 out of state entrance fee and went to visit with Sarah Lincoln, Abraham’s sister.

Sarah was born two years and two days before Abraham. Their younger sibling, Thomas Jr., died a few days after his birth, so Abraham always looked up to and cherished his older sister, especially after their mother died and Sarah became for a time the woman of the family at age eleven. Sarah married Aaron Grigsby when she was eighteen, but died during childbirth a year and half later. 

So my visit was to see Sarah’s grave. Winding through the wood-lined roads of the State Park I found the Little Pigeon Primitive Baptist Church where the family attended services. Abraham served as church sexton, responsible for maintaining the church property, ringing the bell for services, and digging graves. Behind the church is Old Pigeon Cemetery, which holds the final resting place for many of the first families of the Little Pigeon Creek settlement. Sarah’s gravestone was one of the first in the cemetery, and one of the most prominent. It’s certainly one of the cleanest, maintained pristine for Lincoln pilgrims, who often leave pennies – featuring Abraham Lincoln’s profile – on the relief flower bough that adorns the center of the stone.

Lincoln State Park, Lincoln City, Indiana

Her husband Aaron Grigsby’s gravestone is there too. In contrast to Sarah’s, Aaron’s stone is a small obelisk darkened by age and lack of maintenance. I suppose the reflects their relative positions in American history.

On my way out of the park I stopped at an area I had spied on the way in listed rather unhelpfully as the “Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Plaza.” The plaza was dedicated in 2009, the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. From the parking lot all you can see is trees, but as you follow the short path you suddenly find yourself viewing a small plaza with a semi-circular stone monument. With help from the ample signage, you realize that the roughened portions of the stone in front of you represents Abraham’s height for each of the fourteen formative years he lived in Indiana.

Around the back is another surprise. What seems like a circular monument on one side turns out to be only half a circle. The back side features a half statue of Lincoln in front of a wall engraved with the Gettysburg Address and the proration from his Second Inaugural Speech. On the statue’s base, the sculptor, Will Clark, explains the positioning of the hands:

Lincoln’s closed left hand symbolizes his desire to hold the Union together, and his open right hand symbolizes his desire for a strong, positive, post-war reconciliation with the South.

There is more to see in Lincoln State Park, including a Lincoln amphitheater and other areas related to Lincoln. After the park, I headed north. Tomorrow would be a research day in the library. More on that next. Meanwhile, for more on my Chasing Abraham Lincoln travels, follow the link and scroll down.

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 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!

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Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial – Going Back in Time

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Lincoln Boyhood National MemorialDuring my Chasing Abraham Lincoln road trips this summer I covered areas where Lincoln was born, raised, became an adult, and debated the politics of the day. My last stop was in Rockport, Indiana. Today I move on to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana. This stop was truly going back in time.

The site, run by the National Park Service, consists of two distinct areas connected by a large wooded area lined with hiking trails. When you first enter the site you find a large curved memorial building. Inside is the park service information center, some informative museum displays, a tiny store, and a small theater where they show a historical movie of Lincoln’s boyhood in Indiana. The outside of the building is covered from end to end with a series of sculptured relief panels by E.H. Daniels marking important periods in Lincoln’s life. Selected quotes from Lincoln are also carved into the building.

Lincoln Boyhood National MemorialFrom here there is a short walk up a landscaped tree-line allee to the gravesite of Nancy Hanks Lincoln designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. Lincoln’s mother had died in 1818 of what was called “milk sickness,” later to be associated with cows eating the toxic white snakeroot plant. Her grave remained unmarked until a permanent marker was erected in 1879.

From here another short walk through the woods takes you to the Lincoln cabin site memorial. Researchers located and marked the site in 1917; another nineteen years passed before the State of Indiana excavated the site and found the remains of sill logs and a stone hearth. A bronze casting was created to fit the outline of the cabin’s foundation and that is what visitors can now see. Ironically, the Lincoln’s never actually lived in the cabin. This would have been the third cabin built by Thomas Lincoln and his family, but before it was completely he abruptly decided to leave Indiana and move to Illinois. The cabin was never finished.

Next is the second part of the two distinct areas – the Living Historical Farm. A log cabin, smokehouse, woodworking shed, and animal pens have been recreated and rangers dressed in period clothing perform a variety of activities typical of daily life during the time the Lincoln’s lived there. I spoke with several of the period performers who explained the ins and outs of life on the frontier farm. I learned that various tubers and squash are stored in the attic or buried, that candles could be made either from bee’s wax or rendered beef fat, and that mattresses were made from burlap bags filled with leaves or horsehair (or in some cases, wool). One man explained how pork was cured in the smokehouse; another showed me how various farm tools and furniture were made in the woodworking shed.

But I wasn’t finished. One of the many highlights is a walking trail called the “Trail of Twelve Stones.” It begins near the Living Historical Farm and winds through the forest, ending eventually near the pioneer cemetery. Along the trail you’ll encounter a series of twelve stones that have some significance to Lincoln’s life, all transported to this location and set with small bronze plaques explaining their significance. For example, there is a stone from Lincoln’s birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Another stone comes from the foundation of the Berry-Lincoln store in New Salem. There are stones from the White House, from Mary Lincoln’s home in Kentucky, from the Lincoln Cottage, from where he delivered the Gettysburg Address, and from a variety of other sites associated with Lincoln. The final stone of the twelve is a memorial to Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln.

To cap off my visit a park ranger excitedly hurried out to my direction as I returned to the visitor center. “Look up,” he yelled, pointing at a raptor soaring above the trees. “It’s a Mississippi kite,” he explained. “Very rare here in Indiana. We have a pair nesting in the park. There’s another pair nesting in the State Park across the road.”

And with that unexpected but thrilling end to my visit at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, I hopped back in my car and headed across the road to Lincoln State Park. I had a date there with Lincoln’s sister, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby.

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 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!

 

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Abraham Lincoln Moves to Indiana – Ferry Crossing and Grandview

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As I continue my tour of Abraham Lincoln’s early life (see Chasing Abraham Lincoln and scroll down for several articles), I follow Lincoln’s path across the river into Indiana. Okay, technically I didn’t follow his exact path because 1) it’s not entirely known for sure where he crossed, and 2) there is no longer a ferry. But soon after driving over the modern bridge I came across Lincoln Ferry Park.

As parks go I can safely say this one appeals mostly to Lincoln buffs. It consists of a small parking lot and a picnic shelter, both of which have seen better days. On the day I arrived the shelter was occupied by a sleeping homeless man and his menacingly large bulldog. Nestled alongside the small Anderson River, a merely creek compared to the massive Ohio River into which it flows, the park offers Lincolnophiles a glimpse at the river where Lincoln once worked as a hired hand to James Taylor. Lincoln did basic farm work, butchered hogs, and operated Taylor’s ferry. It was also here that Lincoln earned his first dollar by rowing two men out to a steamer in the middle of the Ohio River. [It was also his first court case; he was sued by a ferry owner on the Kentucky side. Lincoln won the case.]

Finding a cache of recently dead fish behind a tree, and with the shelter inhabitant waking up to something out of a Stephen King novel, I decided to drive along the river to Grandview. This is where the Lincoln’s actually first touched down in Indiana.

Grandview was simply known as Sandy Creek Landing at the time. Long-term reconstruction of the state road forced me into a long detour, but eventually I found my way to the location. And there it was. Here the seven-year-old Abraham, his sister Sarah, and parents Thomas and Nancy were ferried across from the Kentucky side of the Ohio River to Indiana.

Again, there wasn’t much there. A historical marker on a pole told me this is where they crossed, and that was pretty much it. Today the site is a working boat ramp, but you can get a feel for the width of the Ohio River they had to cross.

From here I was on to Rockport, Indiana, where I met four of the nicest ladies of uncertain age you can imagine. More on that in the next post.

If you missed them, follow this link and scroll down to see previous Chasing Abraham Lincoln articles.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two 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!

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A Shrine for Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace

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Part 1 of my Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour (click and scroll for several articles) took me to Lincoln’s birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky. My last piece highlighted the museum and statues in downtown Hodgenville itself; today we visit Lincoln’s birthplace.

“My earliest recollection…is of the Knob Creek place.” – Abraham Lincoln

We’ll get to Lincoln’s actual birthplace in a moment, but my route first took me past the Knob Creek Farm to which the Lincoln’s moved when Abraham was just a toddler. Today it’s a unit of the Birthplace National Historical Park. Not much is there these days; even the inn was boarded up and a sign warned against a growing nest of wasps. But there is a field where the farm stood, plus a log cabin and a 2-3 hour hiking trail. The cabin is actually that of the Gollaher family, moved here from a few miles away. Nearby is Knob Creek where Austin Gollaher had saved Lincoln from drowning. Presumably the spot where that happened was a distance away as the spot near the farm is barely deep enough to wet your shoes.

Moving on from Knob Creek, and passing through Hodgenville, you eventually come to Lincoln’s birthplace at the Sinking Spring farm. Here on February 12, 1809 the future president and martyr would join his older sister and parents in this world. Today the site is a bit surreal. After touring the grandparents cabin and other rustic sites, the birthplace is like something out of ancient Greece. In fact, it is the Greek style temple that first captures your eye.

There are 56 steps leading up to the temple, one for each year of his life. It’s hard not to think of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. as you walk up the steps. That’s on purpose. For Lincoln buffs, entering the building is like entering a shrine. Therein stands the symbolic birthplace cabin. The real deal. Well, sort of.

It’s a long story but basically the budding park service purchased the logs of what was believed to be Lincoln’s birthplace cabin. An entrepreneur had been touring the United States a year after the assassination with a cabin he claimed to be the Lincolns’. He also had a second cabin he claimed to be that of Jefferson Davis. Putting the logs together at each stop, the guy made a fortune displaying the birthplaces of the two Civil War presidents. Of course, this story wasn’t known by the park service when they bought the logs, which had been stored in a warehouse for decades. It was only after they started putting them together that they realized they had too many windows, too many doors, and too many logs. Some research led to the discovery of its history.

Hence the “symbolic” designation. Some purists insisted the cabin couldn’t be called the original birthplace because, well, it wasn’t. Recent tests on some of the logs show they were cut sometime in the 1850s or 60s, too late to have been the cabin in 1809. The park service used the best logs of the “two-cabins-worth” they had at their disposal and settled on “symbolic” as the best description for a trimmed down version of the cabin that fit in their temple. To be honest, the lack of original cabin shouldn’t be a surprise. The Lincoln’s moved several times and most likely they would have used some of the logs and hewn boards as materials for wagons and for firewood as they prepared to leave.

One of the best parts of touring to these sites is the personal contact with knowledgeable people. I mostly had the cabin to myself and spent some time chatting with William Ozment, the park ranger on duty. Through him I learned first-hand about the history of the cabin, its construction (including the use of straw or horse hair to strengthen the daubing mud, much like rebar in concrete), and even the kinds of logs used for walls and roofing shingles. This information will be in my next book.

There are two other spots in the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park you must visit. One is Sinking Spring itself, which still exists. A short walk down narrow steps at the base of the memorial shrine takes you to a tiny waterfall leaking over the side of a small depression. Here is where the Lincoln’s got their water. Not far away is the site of the boundary oak, a huge oak tree that sat on the western edge of the farm. Probably 25-30 years old at the time of Lincoln’s birth, it remained until its death in 1976. Eventually cut down in 1986, there isn’t much left to see, but it’s worth the short walk into the woods nonetheless.

Of course, there is also a small museum, gift shop, and theater. Take the 12 minutes to watch the introductory movie and check out the historical displays. Look at the map showing the amount of industrialization in the North and the percent slave population in the South (e.g., South Carolina and Mississippi had more slaves than white people, and other states are close to 50%, hence why the South wanted to protect and expand slavery). In the lobby there is a statue featuring the Lincoln family – parents Thomas and Nancy, sister Sarah, and the young Abe.

Abraham Lincoln BirthplaceLike the Lincolns, my Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour (Part 1) takes me next into Indiana and the farm where Lincoln spent the next 11 of his most formative years. Alas, it’s also where he lost both his mother and his sister to eternity. Stay tuned.

If you missed them, follow this link and scroll down to see previous Chasing Abraham Lincoln articles.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two 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!

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The Forgotten Hodgenville, Kentucky – Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace

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Hodgenville, Kentucky is where Lincoln was born, though the town seems forgotten by all by die-hard Lincolnophiles (call it a guilty pleasure). As I wrote in my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America:

When Nancy was heavily pregnant with Abraham, Thomas moved to Sinking Spring Farm, a 300-acre tract near Hodgenville, Kentucky, named after a spring bubbling up from a sunken cave. He quickly erected a one-room log cabin, barely in time for Abraham’s birth on February 12, 1809. The Lincoln family likely believed this would be an ideal location to raise their growing family, as it had plenty of acreage and was only a few miles from Nancy’s aunt and uncle, Elizabeth and Thomas Sparrow.

Within two years, however, the Lincolns were on the move again. While initially idyllic, Sinking Spring turned out to be poor farmland and subject to a legal dispute over the title. After losing his land and his investment, Thomas sought to restart by purchasing 230 acres of land about ten miles away at Knob Creek Farm. Here Thomas was his most prosperous as a Kentucky farmer.

Both the Sinking Spring and Knob Creek farms are now part of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park run by the National Park Service. Both are well-visited and I’ll talk more about them later. Today we focus on the town of Hodgenville itself, which virtually everyone passes through on the road between the two farm sites, but too few stop in. That’s a mistake.

Hodgenville, which was originally simply Hodgen’s Mill, is tiny. It’s 3000 or so residents are squeezed into an area less than 2 square miles. From a visitor’s point of view it consists of a traffic circle surrounded by buildings sporting the Lincoln name. One of those buildings is the Lincoln Museum and it is not to be missed. The main part of the museum is a series of life-size wax figure vignettes of Lincoln’s life. Here you’ll find him growing up in the log cabin, tending a general store, making his name as the railsplitter, courting Mary Todd, preparing bills as a congressman, debating Steven A. Douglas, having his photo taken by Matthew Brady with Tad, being sworn in at his second inaugural, and after a quick look at Grant and Lee at Appomattox, relaxing on that fateful night at Ford’s Theatre. Photos of the scenes are in the slide show below.

Upstairs in the museum you’ll find period clothing, furniture, accessories, and a wonderful art gallery. Back on the main floor is a gift shop filled with souvenirs and books.

After visiting the museum, look both ways (and down the side streets), then hop over to the center of the traffic circle. Here you’ll find not one but two statues of Abraham Lincoln. The first one you’ll notice is a traditional seated Lincoln in all his presidential grandeur. Sculpted by Adolph A. Weinman as part of the centennial celebrations of Lincoln’s life, it was dedicated on March 31, 1909.

Facing it on the opposite side of the circle is a much more recent addition. Dedicated on March 31, 2008, the small bronze shows a youthful Lincoln with his dog “Honey.” Created by the Daub-Firmin-Hendrickson Sculpture Group, it represents Lincoln as he would have appeared shortly before leaving Kentucky for Indiana.

If you missed them, check out my previous posts from my Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour. Much more to come so check back regularly.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two 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!

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Reading R Us

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library booksWhen I’m not writing, I’m reading (or traveling). In fact, reading seems to have become how I procrastinate writing, but that’s fodder for another post. For now, let’s talk about my reading.

In 2017 I read 116 books, ten more than the 106 of 2016, which was 10 more than the 96 of 2015. That streak will probably change next year, but for this year it meant a lot of time spent wrapped up in books, mostly real, physical, old-style books with a sprinkling of e-books.

As always, books about Abraham Lincoln dominate my reading list. This year I read 31 books on Lincoln, about 27% of my total. And one of them was the book I wrote called Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. That book came out in late summer and has been selling well in Barnes and Noble stores nationwide.

Other Lincoln books included the second volume of Sidney Blumenthal’s political life of Lincoln called Wrestling With His Angel (see links for book reviews), which was just as good as the first volume that came out last year. Also among Lincoln books was Guy Fraker’s installment in the “Looking for Lincoln in Illinois” series, this one on Fraker’s area of expertise, Lincoln’s time on the 8th Judicial Circuit. I read two books on Lincoln’s interactions with photographer Alexander Gardner: Shooting Lincoln by Nicholas Pistor and The Photographer and the President by Richard S. Lowry. Though they largely covered the same topic, the two books are very different in their emphasis and style. I recommend reading both.  I read many more about Lincoln, both new books and classics.

The majority of books I read were non-fiction: 81 of the 116, about 70% of the total. In addition to Lincoln-related I read non-fiction books on writing (9), biography/memoir (10), travel (6), science (13), and miscellaneous other non-fiction (12). These included What Happened by Hillary Clinton, Thank You for Being Late by Thomas Friedman, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Best Travel Writing – 2010, and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Included among the science books was If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face, a wonderful book on science communication by Alan Alda.

Fiction books included some Science Fiction/Fantasy like The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin, Tesla’s Frequency by L. Woodswalker (a wonderful follow up to her earlier Tesla’s Signal), and Curse of the Jenri by real-life rocket scientist Stephanie Barr. I also read Kafka on the Shore, a metaphysical reality (aka, magical realism) book by famed author Haruki Murakami. “Normal” fiction included the surprisingly wonderful The Last Child by John Hart, Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (which I read while in Australia), The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer, and Thunderstruck by Erik Larson.

In an effort to diversify my reading I slogged through Walt Whitman’s saga of a poetry book, Leaves of Grass. I also read one pure humor book, which I found to be completely unfunny. Maybe I’ll read one of the books on Lincoln’s humor next time.

In all I read about 36,000 pages in 2017. I keep track of my reading on Goodreads, so feel free to check out my Goodreads author page where I also have links to my own books.

You can also join my Facebook author page for updates and links to interesting articles.

So how many books do I read in 2018?

[Continue reading about 2018 on Hot White Snow]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two 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!

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. Share with your friends using the buttons below.

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The Year in Science Traveling – 2017

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Sometimes Science Traveling takes me to distant lands and cultures, and sometimes it takes me closer to my own culture. This year was a little of both. I only took two major trips out of the country, but whoa, were they major. No more significant travel in the last twelve days of 2017, so here’s a recap.

First, the big trips.

Seoul, South Korea

In May I flew to South Korea. Mostly there weren’t any missiles flying while I was on the ground (there were just before and after), so I was able to move around without much difficulty. After landing in Seoul I immediately hopped a train to Busan on the southeast coast. After a few days there I headed back to Seoul and even took a day trip up into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). An interesting experience to say the least. Even Seoul offered some excitement as I was there on election day; they were voting to replace the president who had been impeached (and who days before had been arrested for corruption). And yes, I took notes.

Nine Dragon Wall, Beijing, China

From South Korea I flew to Beijing. I’ve been there a couple of times before so had already seen the usual tourist traps. This time the temperature hit 100 degrees F to offset the first time I was there when it was -5 F. I checked out some local areas and visited the Bell and Drum Towers. Vladimir Putin and about 30 other world leaders were in town for a One Belt, One Road Summit, so the air was bright and clear (they close down the factories and ban cars). On the flip side, the Forbidden City was closed for a private tour of all the first ladies and every version of military uniform possible was parading the streets.

The next big trip was in October to Australia and New Zealand. First to Sydney (the famous bridge, the even more famous Opera House, and the at least locally famous Bondi Beach), then up to Cairns (Great Barrier Reef), then to Queenstown, New Zealand (fjord cruising), then back to Australia for Melbourne (12 Apostles), and finally up to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock). Day trips included hiking the Blue Mountains, checking out three different aquariums, and chasing the Lord of the Rings through the mountains of New Zealand. A trip of a lifetime.

Mt. Rushmore

The rest of the year was spent on less adventurous trips. I attended the annual CPRC meeting in Annapolis (where I also went kayaking on a separate trip), the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg, and then two trips up to Massachusetts (July and November). I also got to hang out with Abraham Lincoln (George Buss) and Teddy Roosevelt (Joe Wiegand). In fact, both men twice. In February they were joined by actors playing George Washington and Thomas Jefferson for a “Mt. Rushmore” night at the National Archives. Joe reprised his role for the Lincoln Group of DC in October with a tribute to Abraham Lincoln; George played Lincoln at the Gettysburg cemetery commemoration in November.

Overall there were fewer trips this year, but to farther places. I only managed to get to three new countries, which brings the total to something like 45 depending on how you count. If things work out the way I’m anticipating, next year could add up to eight, or even more, new countries visited. Now how do I get to Antarctica? Stay tuned.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two 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!

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Abraham Lincoln Book Acquisitions for 2017

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Another year and another set of acquisitions for my Abraham Lincoln book collection. This was a decent year for new books – 59 new additions. In contrast, last year I only acquired 43 new books, but 2017 was in line with the 59 and 60 books obtained in 2015 and 2014, respectively. My big year was the 98 books in 2013. So this year was about average, but acquisitions didn’t stop at books. I also purchased four new 7-shelf bookcases to set up a new office library.

Basement library

Nine of the new books were published in 2017. By far the most important one was my own book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, which came out in August and has been enjoying good sales in Barnes and Noble stores nationwide.Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America

Other 2017 released books include the second volume of Sidney Blumenthal’s “Political Life of Abraham Lincoln” called Wrestling With His Angel (which I reviewed in the Lincolnian) and on Goodreads. There were also new books by Lincoln scholars Brian Dirck, James Conroy, Guy Fraker, and Jonathan W. White.

Two books looked at the importance of legendary photographers Alexander Gardner and Mathew Brady to our memory of the Civil War. Shooting Lincoln by J.C. Pistor came out this year while Richard Lowry’s The Photographer and the President came out in 2015. Both delve into the rivalry between Gardner and Brady and their relationship with helping make Lincoln great as well as document the destruction of the war.

On the flip-side, the oldest new acquisition was Henry Ketcham’s The Life of Abraham Lincoln, published in 1901. Close behind was Emanuel Hertz’s 1939 book, Lincoln Talks: A Biography in Anecdote.

Other great books include Charles Strozier’s Your Friend Forever: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed, and the four-volume set of Legal Documents and Cases coming out of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln Project, edited by Daniel Stowell. I was also fascinated by Robert O’Harrow Jr.’s The Quartermaster about Montgomery C. Meigs.

As Vice President of Programs for the Lincoln Group of DC, I’ve had the privilege of inviting many of these authors to speak to us in person. Between the Lincoln Group, the Lincoln Forum, and other Lincoln organization events I’ve been lucky enough to get many of my acquisitions signed by the authors. Sixteen of my new acquisitions are signed, most directly to me.

I will admit that finding books is getting harder. New books tend to be expensive and older books tend to be either impossible to find or in terrible condition or priced out of my reach. With over 1100 titles in my collection, the number of books available that I already have also puts a cap on new acquisitions.

One last note: I’ve begun something I call the Abraham Lincoln Bibliography Project in which I plan to catalog the known books about Abraham Lincoln. I’ll include only actual books, not other documents and not pamphlets. As the website develops I’ll add a searchable database, book reviews, lists of books by topic (e.g., assassination, general biography, law career), and summary papers for those topics. The idea is to create a useful resource for both Lincoln researchers and the general public. Check out the blog and stay tuned.

See the 2017 list showing author/title/publication date below my signature blurb below.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two 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!

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. Share with your friends using the buttons below.

Here is the 2017 list:

Physical Evidences: Investigation & Reconstruction of Physical Events 2017
Acord, David What Would Lincoln Do? 2009
Adams, Carl Nance: Trials of the First Slave Freed by Abraham Lincoln 2016
Bain, David Haward Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad 1999
Bartelt, William E. There I Grew Up: Remembering Abraham Lincoln’s Indiana Youth 2008
Berton, Pierre Niagara: A History of the Falls 1992
Blumenthal, Sidney Wrestling With His Angel: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln 1849-1856 2017
Brame, Charles w/illustrations by Soller, Edgar B. Honestly Abe: A Cartoon Expose of Abraham Lincoln (Revised and Enlarged Edition) 2000
Brogan, D.W. Abraham Lincoln (Great Lives) 1935
Chadwick, Bruce 1858: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and the War They Failed to See 2008
Conroy, James B. Lincoln’s White House: The People’s House in Wartime 2017
Cornelius, James M. and Carla Knorowski Under Lincoln’s Hat: 100 Objects That Tell The Story of His Life and Legacy 2016
Cox, Hank H. Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising of 1862 2005
Crofts, Daniel W. Lincoln & the Politics of Slavery: The Other Thirteenth Amendment and the Struggle to Save the Union 2016
Davis, Rodney O., and Wilson, Douglas, L. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (The Lincoln Studies Center Edition) 2008
Denney, Robert E. Civil War Medicine: Care & Comfort of the Wounded 1994
Dirck, Brian Lincoln in Indiana 2017
Farber, Daniel Lincoln’s Constitution 2003
Foner, Eric Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 1988
Fraker, Guy C. Looking for Lincoln in Illinois: A Guide to Lincoln’s Eighth Judicial Circuit 2017
Furguson, Ernest B. Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War 2004
Grieve, Victoria Ford’s Theatre and the Lincoln Assassination 2005
Hacker, Barton C. (Ed.) Astride Two Worlds: Technology and the American Civil War 2016
Hertz, Emanuel Lincoln Talks: A Biography in Anecdote 1939
Hirsch, David and Van Haften, Dan The Ultimate Guide to the Gettysburg Address 2016
Irmscher, Christoph Louise Agassiz: Creator of American Science 2013
Keeler, William Frederick, with Robert W. Daly (Editor) Aboard the USS Monitor: 1862: The Letters of Acting Paymaster William Frederick Keeler, US Navy to His Wife, Anna 1964
Kent, David Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America 2017
Ketcham, Henry The Life of Abraham Lincoln 1901
Kigel, Richard Becoming Abraham Lincoln: The Coming of Age of Our Greatest President 2017
Lee, Richard M. Mr. Lincoln’s City: An Illustrated Guide to the Civil War Sites of Washington 1981
Leidner, Gordon Conversations with Lincoln: Little-Known Stories From Those Who Met America’s 16th President 2016
Lowry, Richard S. The Photographer and the President: Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Gardner, & the Images That Made a Presidency 2015
Martin, Fred J., Jr. Abraham Lincoln’s Path to Reelection in 1864: Our Greatest Victory 2013
McCutcheon, Marc The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800s 1993
Oehlerts, Donald E. (Compiler) Guide to Wisconsin Newspapers, 1833-1957 1958
O’Harrow, Robert Jr. The Quartermaster: Montgomery C. Meigs, Lincoln’s General, Master Builder of the Union Army 2016
Paludan, Phillip Shaw Victims: A True Story of the Civil War 1981
Phillips, Donald T. Lincoln on Leadership for Today 2017
Pinkney, Andrea Davis Dear Mr. President: Abraham Lincoln Letters from a Slave Girl 2001
Pistor, J.C. Shooting Lincoln: Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and the Race to Photograph the Story of the Century 2017
Schwartz, Thomas F. Lincoln: An Illustrated Life and Legacy 2009
Searcher, Victor Lincoln Today: An Introduction to Modern Lincolniania 1969
Silverman, Kenneth Lightning Man: The Accursed Life of Samuel F.B. Morse 2003
Sloan, Eric A Museum of Early American Tools 1973
Snow, Richard Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle That Changed History 2016
Stowell, Daniel (Editor) The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases (4 vols) 2008
Strozier, Charles B. Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed 2016
Stuckey, Sterling Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory & The Foundations of Black America 1987
Swanson, James L. and Weinberg, Daniel R. Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution 2001
Titone, Nora My Thoughts Be Bloody: The Bitter Rivalry That Led to the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln 2010
Tooley, Mark The Peace That Almost Was: The Forgotten Story of the 1861 Washington Peace Conference and the Final Attempt to Avert the Civil War 2015
Trindal, Elizabeth Steger Mary Surratt: An American Tragedy 1996
Tyler, David B. The Wilkes Expedition: The First United Sates Exploring Expedition (1838-1842) 1968
Varhola, Michael J. Everyday Life During the Civil War: A Guide for Writers, Students and Historians 1999
Ward, Geoffrey C. Lincoln’s Thought and the Present 1978
White, Jonathan W. Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman 2011
White, Jonathan W. Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams During the Civil War 2017
White, Richard Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America 2011
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Buenos Aires, Charles Darwin, and the Giant Ground Sloths

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Darwin's giant ground slothI’m currently working on a travel memoir of a recent trip to Patagonia. Our first stop was Buenos Aires, where we toured the opera house, visited the cemetery (trust me, it’s the thing to do), and dreamed about Darwin and the giant ground sloths.

Giant ground sloths, you say?

As a scientist and historian I couldn’t help but think of Darwin as we wandered around the capital city of Argentina. I had hoped to get further south to the Mar del Plata Aquarium but weather and circumstances conspired to disappoint me. I took consolation in the knowledge that Charles Darwin, of Origin of Species fame, spent many months in the coastal areas south of Buenos Aires during his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle. After general wanderings around Rio de la Plata, the estuary of which separates Buenos Aires and Argentina to the south and Montevideo and Uruguay to the north, Darwin headed to Bahia Blanca and Punta Alta. It was in Punta Alta that Darwin really became enamored of his adventurous investigations, which up until now had been mostly at sea during the long Atlantic crossing, and a few forays into the interior of Brazil near Rio de Janeiro and across into Montevideo.

Darwin's giant ground slothIt was also in Punta Alta that Darwin made one of his biggest scientific discoveries. Ranging about the landscape on horseback, sleeping in the open with guachos or staying in haciendas with local ranchers, Darwin stumbled upon the fossilized bones of, well, something. One specimen was “the head of some large animal, embedded in soft rock.” He thought it might be similar to a rhinoceros. It took a second visit several months later – FitzRoy and his crews were busy mapping up and down the coastline – to realize he had discovered a large number of large mammal fossils not previously known from previous scientific expeditions to Europe, Asia, or Africa. In all he found nine different types of “great quadrupeds.”

Dutifully shipping the fossils with the thousands of other samples collected to various collaborating scientists in Europe, these large mammal fossils ended up via a circuitous route in the hands of French scientist Georges Cuvier. Cuvier determined that these were the bones of what became known as giant ground sloths, some as big as elephants, which roamed widely in the ancient North and South American plains. Cuvier named the huge beast Megatherium, which is, appropriately enough, derived from the Latin for “huge beast.”

Darwin's giant ground slothHere is where the plot thickens. While Cuvier was working up his paper describing and naming Megatherium, workers in what is now West Virginia dug up some old bones and sent them to Virginia’s biggest paleontological expert, who just happened to be Vice President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson named these new bones Megalonyx jeffersonii, meaning “giant claw” (the jeffersonii species name is an affectation that many discoverers take when naming their new species). These too turned out to be giant ground sloths. Meanwhile, Darwin was digging up even more sloth species. Many of these ended up in the Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales “Carlos Darwin,” set up in Punta Alta by modern day Argentinian geologist Teresa Manera.

Why is the museum called Carlos Darwin instead of Charles Darwin, you might ask? The museum was established in the late 1990s, not long after the Falklands War. The Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas Islands, were a disputed territory off the coast of Argentina. The British had claimed them many years before and engaged in a war to protect their claim when Argentina tried to get them back. Not surprisingly, the museum wasn’t too keen on recognizing the English at the time so they used the Spanish form of Charles – Carlos – instead. Teresa Manera and her husband, by the way, also discovered giant ground sloth footprints on a beach near there and has been trying for decades to get it made a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Darwin wasn’t finished in South America, of course; the Beagle gave him plenty of time to explore Patagonia, both in Argentina and Chile. My own travels in Patagonia included climbing up to the base of Cerro FitzRoy, the mountain in the lower Andes named after the Beagle‘s captain, with whom Charles Darwin spent five years living in a cabin not much bigger than a closet.

Meanwhile, our time in Buenos Aires was quickly coming to an end and we were headed out to Bariloche to start our big adventure. Darwin would make more appearances along the route.

For previous articles about Buenos Aires and Patagonia, this post is a good place to start.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two 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!

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. Share with your friends using the buttons below.