Becoming Abraham Lincoln: The Coming of Age of Our Greatest President

by Richard Kigel

Overview

Becoming Abraham Lincoln: The Coming of Age of Our Greatest President tells the true story of how this great American hero grew up and became a man. The story begins with Lincoln’s cousin describing the murder of Abe’s grandfather in 1782 by the Wabash Indians in the Kentucky wilderness. It ends as Lincoln turns twenty-five, downcast and debt-ridden after the failure of his first business venture, as he earns his first election victory to take his seat in the Illinois State Legislature.

This vivid, authentic account of Abraham Lincoln in his formative years is told by those who were there—his friends and family. Supported by rigorous research, Becoming Abraham Lincoln is an authentic account of Lincoln’s childhood and adolescence in the actual words of those who knew him best. We see Lincoln as he was, according to law partner Billy Herndon, “just as he lived, breathed, ate and laughed in this world.” The historic eyewitness testimony in these pages forms a rich, detailed narrative unmatched in all Lincoln literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510717305
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Pages:	296
Sales rank:	769,662
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Richard Kigel is a veteran New York City teacher. He is the author of On the Wings of the Wind: The Untold Story of History's First Flight and Heav'nly Tidings from the Afric Muse: The Grace and Genius of Phillis Wheatley. He lives in Staten Island, New York.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Introduction: "I saw him this morning about 8:30." xiii

1 "My good friend is gone." 1

2 "I have heard much of this blessed good woman." 7

3 "Injuns!" 13

4 "Purty as a pitcher." 21

5 "Nancy's got a boy baby" 27

6 "It was a wild region." 35

7 "Constantly handling that most useful instrument." 41

8 "I am going away from you, Abraham." 47

9 "Here's your new mammy." 51

10 "Land o'Goshen, that boy air a' growin'." 59

11 "A real eddication." 67

12 "Mighty darned good lies." 75

13 "Somethin' Peculiarsome." 83

14 "Chronicles of Reuben." 91

15 "Why dost thou tear more blest ones hence?" 101

16 "I can see the quivering and shining of that half-dollar yet." 111

17 "River Man." 117

18 "Snowbirds." 123

19 "I found him no green horn." 131

20 "I'll hit it hard." 137

21 "A kind of driftwood." 143

22 "The best feller that ever broke into this settlement." 151

23 "Something that was knotty." 159

24 "I am young and unknown." 167

25 "They surely thought it was a dream." 173

26 "Captain Abraham Lincoln's Company of the First Regiment of the Brigade of Volunteers." 179

27 "Charges upon the wild onions … Bloody struggles with the mosquitoes." 189

28 "The only time I ever have been beaten." 195

29 "The National Debt." 201

30 "I loved the woman dearly and sacredly." 207

31 "Oh! Why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" 215

32 "Did you vote for me?" 221

Bibliography 229

Notes 233

Editorial Reviews

Abraham Lincoln dismissed his own upbringing with a single line from Gray’s 'Elegy:' ‘The short and simple annals of the poor.’ But as Richard Kigel shows in this textured and gripping narrative, Lincoln would not have become president, much less an empathetic, wise, and history-making one, without the life lessons he absorbed on the prairie. Becoming Abraham Lincoln reminds us that Lincoln’s rise was neither swift nor sure—but that ultimately, it remains the quintessential American story.” —Harold Holzer, leading Lincoln scholar and author, coauthor, and editor of fifty-two books, including Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion

“Richard Kigel has given us a vivid, empathetic, consistently entertaining look at Lincoln’s youth in the rough-and-tumble world that shaped his character. Full of insight, smoothly written, weaving primary sources together with an eye for authenticity and telling detail, Becoming Abraham Lincoln is a pleasure to read. . . . An original contribution to the Lincoln literature, which is no common thing, it also brings to life a fascinating slice of America’s past.” —James B. Conroy, author of Lincoln’s White House: The People’s House in Wartime, cowinner of the 2017 Lincoln Prize

“Richard Kigel fills a void that has existed for nearly a hundred years. Unfortunately, most modern writers cover the subject of these early years in less than a dozen pages before launching onto Lincoln’s rise to the presidency. Kigel’s work fills that void. It is modern and makes use of all the original sources as well as the writings of those Lincoln scholars who went before, giving us a fresh, up-to-date look at American’s greatest statesman.” —Dr. Edward Steers Jr., expert on the Lincoln assassination and author of Blood on the Moon, The Trial, The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators, and The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia

“Richard Kigel closely examines young Lincoln in this valuable study. What emerges is the story of a figure on the frontier of America who, somewhat miraculously, became our greatest President.” —Charles B. Strozier, author of Lincoln’s Quest for Union: A Psychological Portrait and Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed
“From the imaginative chapter titles, to the colorful episodes and serious research, Mr. Kigel’s review of Lincoln’s time as a boy and young man is first-rate." —James M. Cornelius, PhD, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, Springfield, Illinois.

"An intimate biography of young Abraham Lincoln from primary sources—i.e., those who knew him in his formative years.... [A] touching work.... Kigel's emphasis on primary sources is refreshing, and he fashions an instructive work that will be especially useful for younger readers." —Kirkus Reviews

“Abraham Lincoln dismissed his own upbringing with a single line from Gray’s 'Elegy:' ‘The short and simple annals of the poor.’ But as Richard Kigel shows in this textured and gripping narrative, Lincoln would not have become president, much less an empathetic, wise, and history-making one, without the life lessons he absorbed on the prairie. Becoming Abraham Lincoln reminds us that Lincoln’s rise was neither swift nor sure—but that ultimately, it remains the quintessential American story.” —Harold Holzer, leading Lincoln scholar and author, coauthor, and editor of fifty-two books, including Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion

“Richard Kigel has given us a vivid, empathetic, consistently entertaining look at Lincoln’s youth in the rough-and-tumble world that shaped his character. Full of insight, smoothly written, weaving primary sources together with an eye for authenticity and telling detail, Becoming Abraham Lincoln is a pleasure to read. . . . An original contribution to the Lincoln literature, which is no common thing, it also brings to life a fascinating slice of America’s past.” —James B. Conroy, author of Lincoln’s White House: The People’s House in Wartime, cowinner of the 2017 Lincoln Prize

“Richard Kigel fills a void that has existed for nearly a hundred years. Unfortunately, most modern writers cover the subject of these early years in less than a dozen pages before launching onto Lincoln’s rise to the presidency. Kigel’s work fills that void. It is modern and makes use of all the original sources as well as the writings of those Lincoln scholars who went before, giving us a fresh, up-to-date look at American’s greatest statesman.” —Dr. Edward Steers Jr., expert on the Lincoln assassination and author of Blood on the Moon, The Trial, The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators, and The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia

“Richard Kigel closely examines young Lincoln in this valuable study. What emerges is the story of a figure on the frontier of America who, somewhat miraculously, became our greatest President.” —Charles B. Strozier, author of Lincoln’s Quest for Union: A Psychological Portrait and Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed
“From the imaginative chapter titles, to the colorful episodes and serious research, Mr. Kigel’s review of Lincoln’s time as a boy and young man is first-rate." —James M. Cornelius, PhD, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, Springfield, Illinois.

"An intimate biography of young Abraham Lincoln from primary sources—i.e., those who knew him in his formative years.... [A] touching work.... Kigel's emphasis on primary sources is refreshing, and he fashions an instructive work that will be especially useful for younger readers." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2017-04-10
An intimate biography of young Abraham Lincoln from primary sources—i.e., those who knew him in his formative years.Lincoln's Illinois law partner, William Herndon, nine years his junior, was the primary and initial biographer of Lincoln after his death, and while thorough, he was guilty of "myth-making." In this touching work geared toward students, New York City teacher Kigel (Heav'nly Tidings from the Afric Muse: The Grace and Genius of Phillis Wheatley, 2017, etc.) presents the life of the legendary president up to 25, when he first got elected to the Illinois Assembly. The narrative is comprised exclusively of voices who knew the early Lincoln, such as family and acquaintances in his years in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. What emerges from these folksy recollections is a portrait of a young man forged in the harsh reality of frontier life in a family that moved frequently, living in basic log cabins and tending to hardscrabble farms, and where hard labor and little education were the way of life. Moreover, Lincoln was marked early on by the deaths of his newborn baby brother, his mother (when he was 9), and his only sister, who died having her first baby. While known for his height and physical prowess, the young Lincoln was also enamored by books available to the mostly illiterate folks on the frontier, specifically the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Aesop's Fables, and Robinson Crusoe. His father was insistent his son get "a real eddication." Lincoln relied on books as his teachers, and he fashioned himself into an inventive storyteller and great entertainer. He also garnered a reputation as a scrupulously honest man, a reputation begun in his early jobs as a ferryman and store clerk. An early trip to New Orleans by steamboat exposed him to the horrors of the slave trade. Kigel's emphasis on primary sources is refreshing, and he fashions an instructive work that will be especially useful for younger readers.

Kirkus Reviews