Lincoln on Lincoln

by Paul M. Zall (Editor)

Overview

Though Abraham Lincoln has been the subject of numerous biographies, his personality remains an enigma. During his lifetime, Lincoln prepared two sketches of his life for the 1860 presidential race. These brief campaign portraits serve as the core around which Paul Zall weaves extracts from correspondence, speeches, and interviews to produce an in-depth biography. Lincoln's writing about himself offers a window into the soul and mind of one of America's greatest president. His words reveal an emotional evolution typically submerged in political biographies. Lincoln on Lincoln shows a man struggling to reconcile personal ambition and civic virtue, conscience and Constitution, and ultimately the will of God and the will of the people. Zall frames Lincoln's words with his own illuminating commentary, providing a continuous, compelling narrative. Beginning with Lincoln's thoughts on his parents, the story moves though his youth and early successes and failures in law and politics, and culminates in his clashes and conflicts—internal as well as external—as president of a divided country. Through his writings, Lincoln said much more about himself than is commonly recognized, and Zall uses this material to create a unique portrait of this pivotal figure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813128023
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	09/12/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	251 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Paul M. Zall (1922-2010), Emeritus Professor of English at California State University at Los Angeles, was a research scholar at the Huntington Library. He is the author of many books including Lincoln on Lincoln, Jefferson on Jefferson, and Franklin on Franklin.

Table of Contents

Preface
Some Important Dates
Introduction
List of Abbreviations
Surviving the Frontier
Finding a New Life in New Salem
Seeking a Fortune in Springfield
Making His Way with Wit and Wisdom
Stumping the State and the Nation
Preserving, Protecting, Defending
Making Peace, All Passion Spent
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"It is both a surprise and a pleasure to have this new collection, offered as the next-best-thing to a genuine autobiography, expertly pieced together from Lincoln's known speeches and letters to simulate the narrative flow of a life story." -- Blue & Gray Magazine

"Kentucky Monthly An artful biography of Lincoln... spliced together from interview, memoir, and speech excerpts, but always in the slain president's own words." -- Civil War Book Review

"All the wisdom and insight that we have come to value in the man who presides over the temple at the west end of the Capital Mall." -- Civil War Courier

"Adds to our understanding of Abraham Lincoln by demonstrating how consistent he was in his self-image and self-description." -- Civil War History

"It is fun to have Lincoln's personal musings on Lincoln gathered so neatly into one place." -- Civil War News

"The autobiography Lincoln never had the chance to write. The way in which Zall has blended together various sources is very clever." -- James McPherson

"We do learn to share the young Lincoln's excitement when he earns his first dollar; we cringe as he consents to sew shut the eyes of some intransigent hogs; we laugh at some of the doggerel he composes about his rural background.... A collection that casts a strong light." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Zall's Lincoln 'autobiography' gives a strong sense of Lincoln's personal style, practical idealism, and poetic wordsmanship." -- Library Journal

"A handsome book." -- Lincoln Herald

"Handily provides interested readers with autobiographical gleanings from the vast corpus of Lincolniana." -- North Carolina Historical Review

"The book is accurate, even meticulous in its selections. There is nothing unreliable." -- South Carolina Historical Magazine

"An absorbing trip into the mind of America's greatest president." -- Southern Historian

From the Publisher

Excerpts from Lincoln's autobiographical writings, some quite brief, selected, edited, and annotated by Zall, a senior researcher at the Huntington Library. Zall wants these passages culled from letters and other sources to provide "a story of Lincoln's life in his own words." Unfortunately, the 16th president was not loquacious, certainly not about his quotidian life, so he reveals little. As Zall admits, "He was not the kind of person to bare his soul in public or in private." We do learn to share the young Lincoln's excitement when he earns his first dollar; we cringe as he consents to sew shut the eyes of some intransigent hogs; we laugh at some of the doggerel he composes about his rural background ("When first my father settled here, / ‘Twas then the frontier line: / The panther's scream, filled night with fear / And bears preyed on the swine"); we admire him for his stand on slavery (the sight of slaves was "a continual torment to me," he notes); and we tremble with the dramatic irony of a vision he has in late 1860: in the mirror he sees a faint second image alongside the first, and his wife believes it's a dark harbinger of his death. Zall reminds us that Lincoln won only 40 percent of the popular vote in 1860, that he freed slaves only in the states that had seceded, that he was in some ways a reluctant candidate. What does not emerge in these excerpts, however, is any sense of why Lincoln came to be who he was. Why did he not simply remain a farmer? Why did he struggle so hard to educate himself? Why did he want to enter politics? Whence his fierce humanism? Abe may have been honest, but about his own character, he was none too candid. A collection that casts astrong light, but so much of it falls behind the president that shadows obscure his face—and much of his character.

Kirkus Reviews

The autobiography Lincoln never had the chance to write. The way in which Zall has blended together various sources is very clever.

James M. McPherson James M. McPherson

Adds to our understanding of Abraham Lincoln by demonstrating how consistent he was in his self-image and self-description.

Civil War History

Handily provides interested readers with autobiographical gleanings from the vast corpus of Lincolniana.

North Carolina Historical Review

An absorbing trip into the mind of America's greatest president.

Southern Historian

All the wisdom and insight that we have come to value in the man who presides over the temple at the west end of the Capital Mall.

Civil War Courier

Zall's Lincoln 'autobiography' gives a strong sense of Lincoln's personal style, practical idealism, and poetic wordsmanship.

Library Journal

We do learn to share the young Lincoln's excitement when he earns his first dollar; we cringe as he consents to sew shut the eyes of some intransigent hogs; we laugh at some of the doggerel he composes about his rural background.... A collection that casts a strong light.

Kirkus Reviews

The book is accurate, even meticulous in its selections. There is nothing unreliable.

South Carolina Historical Magazine

It is both a surprise and a pleasure to have this new collection, offered as the next-best-thing to a genuine autobiography, expertly pieced together from Lincoln's known speeches and letters to simulate the narrative flow of a life story.

Blue & Gray Magazine

It is fun to have Lincoln's personal musings on Lincoln gathered so neatly into one place.

Civil War News

An artful biography of Lincoln... spliced together from interview, memoir, and speech excerpts, but always in the slain president's own words.

Civil War Book Review

A handsome book.

Lincoln Herald

The autobiography Lincoln never had the chance to write. The way in which Zall has blended together various sources is very clever.

James M. McPherson