Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Penguin Lives) By Thomas Keneally

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Author: Thomas Keneally

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The ideal concise biography of an American icon- now available in paperback for the bicentennial of his birth The self -mad e man from a log cabin, the great orator, the Emancipator, the Savior of the Union, the martyr-Lincoln's story is at the very heart of American history. But who was he, really? In this outstanding biography, award-winning author Thomas Keneally follows Lincoln from his impoverished birth through his education and presidency. From the development of his political philosophy to his troubled family life and his actions during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln is an incisive study of a turning point in our history and a revealing portrait of a pivotal figure.

At this time of writing, The Ebook Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Penguin Lives) has garnered 8 customer reviews with rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Not a bad score at all as if you round it off, it’s actually a perfect TEN already. From the looks of that rating, we can say the Ebook is Good TO READ!

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This is one of several volumes in the Penguin Lives Series, each of which written by a distinguished author in her or his own right. Each provides a concise but remarkably comprehensive biography of its subject in combination with a penetrating analysis of the significance of that subject's life and career. I think this is a brilliant concept. Those who wish to learn more about the given subject are directed to other sources.While preparing to comment on various volumes in this series, I have struggled with determining what would be of greatest interest and assistance to those who read my reviews. Finally I decided that a few brief excerpts and then some concluding remarks of my own would be appropriate.Keneally's approach to his subject is somewhat unorthodox. Other than explaining at the outset that he retains "the erratic spelling of some of the good-faith witnesses to Lincoln's life," he offers no introduction to the narrative. Rather, he proceeds immediately into a chronology which begins with Lincoln's birth "on a mattress of corn husks in a nest of bear rugs on the morning of February 12, a Sabbath, 1809, and until Lincoln's death on April 15, 1865, which prompted Edwin M. Stanton to observe, "Now he belongs to the ages." Keneally concludes, "He had become the bloodied nation incarnate."Keneally organizes his material within sixteen chapters. His gifts as a novelist are soon obvious, especially his use of figurative language and compelling details, but he seems wholly faithful to primary sources rather than taking certain liberties to achieve dramatic effect. For example, he does not invent conversations (however plausible) nor does he indulge in speculations which subsequent scholarship has not verified.Lincoln's response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act which voided the Missouri Compromise: "[Senator Stephen A.] Douglas's initiative brought Lincoln back to passionate participation in politics, since [the Act] violated a number of his profoundly held principles. Her wanted the West to a home for free white people. It would not be so if it became slave states. `Slave states are places for poor white people to remove from; not to remove to.'"On preserving the Union, Lincoln observed: "Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may divorce, and go out of the presence, and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them."After Union forces had struck a "stunning blow" at Gettysburg, Lee and his forces were allowed to "slip" away. Meade had not seized the military advantage. Lincoln's reaction? "Again, my dear general, I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee's escape. He was within your easy grasp...as it is, the war will [now] be prolonged indefinitely. If you could not safely attack Lee last Monday, how can you possibly do so south of the [Potomac]...As you have learned that I was dissatisfied, I have thought it best to tell you why."Prior to delivering his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln had noticed the empty coffins at the railroad depot and freshly dug graves nearby awaiting their corpses. According to Keneally, "It is now known that the difficulties of identifying the contents of the shallowly dug battlefield graves meant that some Confederates, wearing remnants of captured Union uniforms, were buried among the Union troops, an accident of which Lincoln would probably have approved." After Grant assumed command of all Union forces on January 29, 1863, they eventually prevailed. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered his Confederate army to Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lincoln was then re-elected to a second term.According to Keneally, Lincoln later shared with his wife Mary the details of a nightmare during which he encountered a catafalque on which rested a corpse in funeral vestments. Around it guards were stationed. "Who is dead in the White House?" Lincoln asked. "The president," one of them answered, "he was killed by an assassin!" Not long after that nightmare, Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre on Good Friday.Of course, these brief excerpts are taken out of context but, I hope, offer at least some indication of Keneally's approach to his subject. The Lincoln he portrays is both majestic and insecure, stubborn and deferential, principled and devious, but at all times profoundly human. Hopefully these brief excerpts and comments will encourage those who read this review to read Keneally's biography. It is a brilliant achievement.

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