Lincoln As I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes and Revelations From His Best Friends and Worst Enemies

by: Harold Holzer, Editor

Published by: Algonquin Books

Reviewed by Paul Markowitz

More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln that any other person in U.S. history. But as with many famous people, it is often difficult to separate the man from the myth. We know much about Lincoln, but do we really know the man?

It is fitting then that on the bicentennial of his birth, a book has been published to experience the man as he truly was with virtues, inconsistencies, blemishes and all–for this particular collection of anecdotes comes solely from his contemporaries, and not only from those who were enamored of him.

The book has been divided into sections, each with a short but edifying introduction by Holzer, a renowned Lincoln scholar. The sections consist of excerpts from family members, personal and political friends, fellow lawyers, journalists and humorists, foreign observers, authors, artists, African-Americans, White House intimates, military men, and foes including John Wilkes Booth.

So for those who believed Lincoln was an awkward, simple country lawyer with a folksy sense of humor who was thrown into a horrific and complex situation way over his head– and for those who believed he was a brilliant but melancholy politician with an innate sense of what was right, just and pragmatic–both will discover that they were equally correct in their analysis of his character. It was because he incorporated into his personality these disparate and seemingly contradictory qualities that he appears at the same time so human yet so extraordinary.

Armchair Interviews says: A personal point of view on Lincoln.

Author’s Web site: http://www.HaroldHolzer.com