Sometimes I sort of skim the images in a book (this may make me a bad person), but I found myself poring over the photographs and the occasional drawing in the one. He said, in reference to a solider being called up for cowardice, “if Almighty God gives a man a cowardly pair of legs, how can he help their running away with him?” He hated the job of reviewing court-martials for the soldiers and often would try and find ways to pardon them from being sentenced to death. This book made Lincoln, who I obviously admire a great deal, so real to me.

I knew all about the problems with the generals, but it was interesting to read about Lincoln getting so much grief about it back in DC and feeling the tremendous pressure of so many lives hanging in the balance of his appointments.

Third, and sort of related to the second, was the analysis of Lincoln as a war president and what a struggle it was for him to find his stride as the commander-in-chief. Second, the Emancipation Proclamation was really terrifically described as both a moral decision for Lincoln as well as a tool in the war for the North. I thought it did an amazing job of not attempting to paint Lincoln as something he wasn’t. First, the discussion of Lincoln’s changing views on slavery and the impact his final feelings about the topic had on his decisions to run for politics was extremely well done. Born in a log cabin, grew some whiskers, assassinated.Ī few parts stood out to me as really well done. There’s not much to summarize, really, as, come on, you pretty much know the basic gist of Lincoln’s life. lincoln a photobiography by russell freedman Fortunately, I had this one sitting on my shelf, kindly sent to me by the lovely folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (why they were offering this book, published some 22 years ago, I don’t know, but I did not quibble).įor some reason, I clearly remember seeing this book at the library many times growing up, but never read it, even in the throes of my family’s Civil War mania. I mentioned in my goals post, that I was trying to crank through some Newbery titles in order to reach my mark of twelve this year. I couldn’t put it down, which is sadly rare for non-fiction books. A very fair and interesting look at Abraham Lincoln from birth to death. 9.5 of 10: You can’t ask for better non-fiction than Lincoln: A Photobiography.

Lincoln a photobiography