Lincoln's Herndon: A Biography

Occasionally a book that begins as a work of scholarship becomes a great and profoundly moving human document. This life of Lincoln's friend, law partner, and biographer is such a book. It has a two-fold focus: on the "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" days-the days of Lincoln's courting, arguing, and politicking; and on Herndon's long and wracking fight to publish his biography in the face of poverty, drive, and disillusionment, it achieves the impetus and grandeur of tragedy. David Donald has give...