Can you recommend the best Abraham Lincoln biography?

Question

I am very interested in his youth, marriage, and depression.

Answer 1

Try Carl Sandburg's history. It was written long before any of the currrent PC dolts decided the he was a racist.

Answer 2

David Herbert Donald "Lincoln" Mark J. Neely, Jr. "The destiny of Liberty: Abrahan lincoln and civil Liberties" Benjamin Thomas "Abraham Lincoln" David Herbert Donald "Lincoln at residing house: 2 Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln's kinfolk existence" Allen Guelzo "Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President" James G. Randall "Lincoln the President" Douglas L. Wilson "Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the ability of words"

Answer 3

Not a biography; but an excellent book to read is the 12 day munhunt for lincolns killer (excellente)

Answer 4

This is the best overall site for his bio related to all your subjects on Abraham Lincoln:

http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln23.html

Answer 5

"The Real Lincoln".

Answer 6

Abraham Lincoln looms large in American history. From humble origins on the American frontier, he rose to become president during some of the most difficult years the nation ever faced. Though the Civil War was a war among peoples, Lincoln's leadership proved to be one of the keys to the Union's victory and its preservation. This guide is designed to offer a starting point to reading about a man who has been the subject of more books than any other figure from America's past.

Biographies
Perhaps the best starting point is David Herbert Donald's authoritative single-volume biography Lincoln. Written by a longtime Lincoln scholar, it offers a balanced, penetrating examination of Lincoln. Though older, Stephen Oates' With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln is also recommended for its insights and its readability. For more comprehensive accounts, J. G. Randall's opus -- Lincoln, the President: Springfield to Gettysburg and Lincoln the President: Midstream to the Last Full Measure (Lincoln the President) -- remains the most scholarly, while Carl Sandburg's famous multivolume life, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, 1809-1861, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years 1861-64, and Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years 1864-65, gives the best sense of Lincoln the man. Lincoln's family have also been the subject of biographies: Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography is the best account of Lincoln's emotional, unstable wife, while Robert Todd Lincoln: A Man in His Own Right offers a good, if dry, account of the life of Lincoln's eldest son.

Specialized Studies
Nearly every aspect of Lincoln's life has been the subject of seperate monographs, offering readers the choice of a plethora of works to select from. An indispensable resource for details about every aspect of Lincoln's life is Mark E. Neely's The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia, while Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Poseprovide a smilarly authoritative collection, this one of every photograph taken of him.

The starting point for Lincoln's early years is the collection of material his law partner William Herndon collected after Lincoln's death, whihc was the basis of Herndon's Lincoln: The true story of a great life : the history and personal recollections of Abraham Lincoln. The best account of Lincoln's early life is Albert Beveridge's classic Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858. Benjamin Thomas' Lincoln's New Salem gives a charming portrait of the Illinois community where the young Lincoln settled. A. Lincoln, prairie lawyer is a good account of his legal career, while Lincoln's Herndon: A Biography (Da Capo Paperback) by David Herbert Donald is an excellent biography of Lincoln's longtime law partner.

The best account of Lincoln's early career in the Illinois state legislature is Lincoln's preparation for greatness: the Illinois legislative years by Paul Simon, while his term in Congress is covered in two books: Congressman Abraham Lincoln and A. Lincoln, the Crucible of Congress. For the development of Lincoln's thought, the starting point is Allen Guelzo's Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (Library of Religious Biography), which should be supplemented with Daniel Walker Howe's The Political Culture of the American Whigs and Gabor S. Boritt's Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream for his economic ideas.

On the background to the growing political clash over slavery during the 1850s, see David M. Potter's classic overview The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861. Lincoln, the South, and Slavery: The Political Dimension (The Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History) looks at Lincoln's growing concern with slavery, while Don Fehrenbacher's Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850's charts Lincoln's reemergence as a political leader during this period. Lincoln vs. Douglas: The Great Debates Campaign gives a useful overview of the historic confrontation between the two men; while Fehrenbacher's book provides an good analysis of the debates, it should be supplemented by David Zarefsky's Lincoln, Douglas, and Slavery: In the Crucible of Public Debate, which offers a superb examination of the various arguments used by both men.

For Lincoln's 1860 presidential campaign, the standard works are William Baringer's Lincoln's Rise to Powerand Reinhard Luthin's The First Lincoln Campaign, while Harold Holzer has recently published a study of the key speech of the campaign in Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President. The essential starting point for Lincoln's presidency is Phillip Shaw Paludan's excellent The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (American Presidency Series), while Lincoln and the Patronage focuses on the appointments he made. For the succession crisis, see David Potter's Lincoln and his party in the secession crisis, (Yale historical publications ... Studies) and Richard N. Current's Lincoln and the First Shot (Critical Periods of History)

The best single volume overview of the Civil War is James McPherson's magisterial Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States). Two books address Lincoln's tortuous quest to find a successful commander against the Confederates in the East: Lincoln Finds a General: A Military Study of the Civil War by Kenneth P. Williams and T. Harry Williams' Lincoln and His Generals (Lincoln & His Generals). J. G. Randall's Constitutional Problems under Lincoln is the standard work on Lincoln's expansion of presidential powers; Daniel Farber's Lincoln's Constitution provides a recent reinterpretation. For his handling of civil liberties, the book to read is Mark E. Neely's masterful, Pulitzer Prize-winning The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties. For the key document of his administration, see John Hope Franklin's The Emancipation proclamation, while Garry Wills' award-winning Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America is a great examination of his most famous speech.

The best account of Lincoln's Reconstruction policy is William C. Harris' With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union. His reelection campaign is covered in Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency. In Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln, the authors examine the connections between the Confederate Secret Service and Lincoln's assassination, while William Hanchett's The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies is a fascinating debunking of the many conspiracies constructed around Lincoln's death. For the life of Lincoln since his death, Merrill Peterson's Lincoln in American Memory is invaluable for examining his place in the popular imagination.

Writings
The best collection of Lincoln's writings is The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, published in eight volumes by Rutgers University Press. Though not containing every word written by Lincoln, they are both authoritative and indispensable. Readers seeking a more manageable collection should turn to the two volumes of his writings edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher for the Library of America: Abraham Lincoln : Speeches and Writings 1832-1858 (Library of America) and Lincoln: Speeches and Writings: Volume 2: 1859-1865 (Library of America).

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