September 22, 2014
Historian Brookhiser (James Madison) argues that, with an ungainly, backwoods persona for which he endured ridicule and depression throughout his life, Abraham Lincoln sought refuge in the words and actions of the country's Founding Fathers, especially the duty-bound, multi-faceted George Washington. Brookhiser excels in describing Lincoln's political fights over government banks and in parsing his presidency in wartimeâspecifically, his detailed account of the complex evolution of the president's views on slavery. The infamous Lincoln-Douglas rivalry adds levity to this historical work, especially as each man positioned himself as the "Revolution's legitimate heir" in an attempt to reach the national political stage. Unfortunately, in aiming for casual readers, Brookhiser avoids nuances in favor of modern simplificationsâfor instance, in his brief background on Federalists and Republicansâand errs in playing psychologist to the young Abe. He demonstrates that the founders' struggles over slavery not only inspired the 16th president in navigating his own philosophical evolution, but also served as a crucial point of reference for Lincoln's history-altering oratory and leadership . Brookhiser's approach to examining this great American president is certainly a novel one, yet his research does not go far enough in proving Lincoln's close ties to the nation's founders.
September 15, 2014
Brookhiser (National Review, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington) argues that to understand Abraham Lincoln accurately, one must comprehend his connection to and critical appreciation for our country's founding generation. Lincoln turned to founders such as George Washington, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson to chart his own political career and channel his ambition. As much as Lincoln was fueled by ambition, he was also motivated by a comprehensive curiosity about human nature, the founders' intentions, our country's past, and its imagined and hoped-for future. Lincoln read everything he could get his hands on, and his political touchstone was the Declaration of Independence. This self-educated politician asserted that one could likely create a path to the future (and through the fiery trials of the present) by appreciating the past but not being bound to it. Lincoln knew that history was both past and prolog, and he sought to appropriate the earlier age properly to guide the nation successfully through the Civil War. VERDICT This highly accessible read will appeal most to readers who desire to learn more about Lincoln and especially the ideas, dogmas, and dreams that moved him to his public career and life in the White House.--Stephen Kent Shaw, Northwest Nazarene Coll., Nampa, ID
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 15, 2014
An author who specializes in biographies of the Founders looks at their influence on our 16th president.Only two of the men who fought in the Revolution, wrote the Declaration and framed the Constitution remained alive as Lincoln reached his 20s. By the time he departed Springfield in 1861, the president-elect had spent his political maturity pondering the lessons of the Founders, teasing out the principles that informed them as he faced a task he deemed "greater than George Washington's"-holding together a dangerously fragile union. Famously self-made, Lincoln learned most of what he knew from books. Byron, Shakespeare and the Bible account for the touches of poetry in his prose; to Euclid goes partial credit for the rigorous logic underpinning his arguments. The Founders, however, became Lincoln's most reliable instructors: Thomas Paine for plainspoken proofs; Washington as a model of virtue and for his love of liberty; the problematic Jefferson for the Declaration's perfect expression of the American purpose. National Review senior editor Brookhiser (James Madison, 2011, etc.) touches on many other influences that shaped Lincoln's mind, even throwing a little credit to Thomas Lincoln (something Abraham never did) for his son's talent for storytelling. If the author's attempt to link the figure of John Wilkes Booth to the dreaded and destructive "towering genius" prophesized in Lincoln's 1838 Lyceum Address doesn't quite work, his discussion of the second inaugural is genuinely moving and instructive. The narrative always smoothly returns, though, to the Founders and Lincoln's unceasing attempt to divine their intentions and to examine the institutions they built and the opportunity they created for someone like him to thrive. For years now, Brookhiser has helped bring the Founders back to life, precisely Lincoln's purpose as the president contemplated for his country a new birth of freedom, "the old freedom" they envisioned in 1776 but couldn't quite perfect.
COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.