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Lincoln President-Elect : Abraham Lincoln And The Great Secession Winter, 1860-1861 (2008)

by Harold Holzer(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0743289471 (ISBN13: 9780743289474)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: After seeing Harold Holzer on the Lou Dobbs show talking about his new book, I decided to read it, in part, to be able to reflect and compare how Lincoln used his time as President-Elect with the current President-Elect status of Barack Obama we are living in today. Harold goes to great lengths to detail every single moment, if possible, into weekly chunks, of Lincoln's excruciatingly long 4 month's as President-Elect. Harold Holzer did a great job with this book, and it was highly readable. The constant office seekers, the photo and sculptor sitting sessions, the telegraph office visits, the press hounding him to speak out about the status of secession, the hide-away where he worked on his first inaugural address, and his mistake laden victory train ride to Washington, a... morere all vividly described in this biography. And yes, the never ending theme of the unqualified office seeker who shows up in Lincoln's presence asking for great favors are written into almost every page, almost to nausea. But I only had to read about it. Lincoln had to live it.
review 2: I find this book beautifully written but exceedingly boring. The substance of Holzer's latest, book number 31 on Lincoln, could easily have been captured in a journal article. But as it stands we are given a seemingly endless list of encounters with office seekers, well-wishers, dinner companions, potential cabinet members and so on, as well as an absolutely unnecessary account of every whistle stop between Springfield and Washington. The only events that Holzer hasn't documented are Lincoln's respirations, alimentations, excretions and so on. Maybe he's saving that for number 32. less

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