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Lincoln Paperback – November 5, 1996

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,505 ratings

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A masterful work by Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Herbert Donald, Lincoln is a stunning portrait of Abraham Lincoln’s life and presidency.

Donald brilliantly depicts Lincoln’s gradual ascent from humble beginnings in rural Kentucky to the ever-expanding political circles in Illinois, and finally to the presidency of a country divided by civil war. Donald goes beyond biography, illuminating the gradual development of Lincoln’s character, chronicling his tremendous capacity for evolution and growth, thus illustrating what made it possible for a man so inexperienced and so unprepared for the presidency to become a great moral leader. In the most troubled of times, here was a man who led the country out of slavery and preserved a shattered Union—in short, one of the greatest presidents this country has ever seen.
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer prize winner Donald's biography was a PW bestseller for 11 weeks.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. "A grand work--the Lincoln biography for this generation."

Harold Holzer Chicago Tribune "
Lincoln immediately takes its place among the best of the genre, and it is unlikely that it will be surpassed in elegance, incisiveness and originality in this century. . . . A book of investigative tenacity, interpretive boldness and almost acrobatic balance."

James M. McPherson The Atlantic Monthly "Eagerly awaited,
Lincoln fulfills expectations. Donald writes with lucidity and elegance."

David W. Blight Los Angeles Times "A one-volume study of Lincoln's life that will augment and replace the previous modern standards by Benjamin Thomas (1953) and Stephen Oates (1977). Donald's
Lincoln is a scholarly achievement."

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; First Edition (November 5, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 720 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 068482535X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0684825359
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.85 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.3 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,505 ratings

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David Herbert Donald
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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
1,505 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book provides insightful and detailed information about Abraham Lincoln's life. They describe it as an excellent biography with clear writing and a good pace. The style is described as well-done, creative, and a great investment. However, some readers found the book difficult to read due to excessive repetition of words and phrases.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

100 customers mention "Information quality"92 positive8 negative

Customers find the book informative and well-researched. They appreciate its detailed account of Lincoln's life, environment, challenges, and education on the job. The author has a profound understanding of the people and events that shaped his life and provides an objective perspective.

"...It also gives great depth into the struggles, both personally and professionally, about Lincoln...." Read more

"...It is simply a masterfully told story of one of the most important people in American history at the most important Post-Revolution crossroads in..." Read more

"Excellent biography on Lincoln. Impassive and well-researched. Learned a LOT about Lincoln that I did not know...." Read more

"...The most intriguing and insightful portions of the book center on Lincoln's presidency, for which he was wholly unprepared, by his own admission...." Read more

80 customers mention "Biography"80 positive0 negative

Customers find the biography of Lincoln well-researched and a good way to get inside his life. They appreciate the author's effort to show Lincoln's humanity and humanness. The respectful portrait of Lincoln reflects serious scholarship. Readers find the book fascinating and enjoyable, providing a personal history of the man.

"This is an excellent book about Lincoln. Extremely well researched and written...." Read more

"...Lincoln's early political career is fascinating, as he moves from the disintegrating Whig party in helping form the new Republican party...." Read more

"Excellent biography on Lincoln. Impassive and well-researched. Learned a LOT about Lincoln that I did not know...." Read more

"...shrouded in myth for many of us, but a reading of this fine biography parts those mists and reveals that the sixteenth president is not difficult to..." Read more

54 customers mention "Readable"46 positive8 negative

Customers find the book readable. They appreciate the author's clear writing style and lack of unnecessary details. The book is described as informative and straightforward, without being overly detailed.

"This is an excellent book about Lincoln. Extremely well researched and written...." Read more

"...: Donald's mastery of his subject allows him to write with exceptional clarity and admirable dispassion...." Read more

"...Brilliant writing. It simply let's the better-than-Shakespeare, real-life story tell itself...." Read more

"...All of this and more are presented in easy-to-read detail...." Read more

10 customers mention "Pacing"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's pacing good. They appreciate the well-researched and impressive details about his life, career, and legal practice. The political climate and struggles in the conduct of war are well-covered, with specific cases. Readers also mention that the book is trustworthy and well-crafted, making it easy to read.

"...His legal career is particularly well-covered, with interesting examples from his law practice demonstrated by specific cases he argued...." Read more

"...Ancestry, childhood, young adulthood, successful lawyer, popular speaker, husband and father, president, and thinker...." Read more

"...and his astute incorporation of intelligent, capable adversaries into his wartime cabinet...." Read more

"Very well written book about the highs and lows and well known strengths and lesser known...." Read more

10 customers mention "Style"10 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's style. They find the pictures in it amazing, and the cover is shiny with a profile of Lincoln. The writing is creative and informative, and the paper is acid-neutral and ornamented with 22kt gold.

"...Its cover is smooth and shiny with a profile of Lincoln...." Read more

"...bound, printed on specially milled acid-neutral paper and is ornamented with 22kt gold...." Read more

"...This is an inside look at one of our best presidents ever." Read more

"There are amazing pictures in this book. However, if you want a quick read this may not be the way to go. The book is lengthy, but very well done." Read more

8 customers mention "Value for money"8 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's value. They say it's a great investment and an excellent read about Abraham Lincoln's life and values.

"Good book/Very Fair Price." Read more

"...a thorough treatment of the life of Abraham Lincoln, this book is an excellent investment." Read more

"Book was carefully packaged and better than described, at a very fair price. Delivered quickly." Read more

"...what a great president he was. a good buy." Read more

21 customers mention "Length"10 positive11 negative

Customers have different views on the book's length. Some find it engaging and detailed, like a long car ride. Others feel it's too long and boring, with the beginning being dull.

"...but once Lincoln was into politics, the biography was no longer about Lincoln...." Read more

"...of narration are followed by 87 pages of reference notes and 28 pages of index. The five maps are appropriately spaced...." Read more

"...book, but at times found the author pedantic, going into minute trivia with little importance, which at times made the reading tedious...." Read more

"...family, his political journey, his deepest thoughts, and his trials and tribulations (literally!)...." Read more

11 customers mention "Readability"3 positive8 negative

Customers find the book difficult to read. They mention it's not a fast read, and the appropriate "such as" is an irritant throughout the book. While interesting, the book drags on a bit.

"...This is not a fast read, but it is a very interesting book...." Read more

"...; in place of the appropriate "such as" is an irritant throughout the book. Obviously, the writer (and/or editor) need some instruction...." Read more

"...Ancestry, childhood, young adulthood, successful lawyer, popular speaker, husband and father, president, and thinker...." Read more

"Very good book. Drags a bit to much early on with a bit more detail than needed about some conversations and law suits and such...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2024
    This is an excellent book about Lincoln. Extremely well researched and written. It brings to light that there is so much more to the story than the little log cabin. It also gives great depth into the struggles, both personally and professionally, about Lincoln. It’s 599 pages ( not including footnotes) and small print. So settle in for some reading. Great book.
  • Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2011
    David Herbert Donald's 1996 biography Lincoln has been called the best single volume Lincoln biography of the period. Though this is my first Lincoln bio, I'd be surprised to read a better. Donald does a fantastic job of making Lincoln come alive and allowing the reader to join the 16th president on the amazing journey that was his life.

    Donald's framing device is that the reader is presented with the information Lincoln knew at the time. This reduces the frequent historical tendency to second guess the subject, and allows you to more easily see things from Lincoln's point of view when he was weighing his decisions. A significant example of this is that the reader is not taken to any Civil War battlefields as bullets fly, but instead joins Lincoln in pacing the War Department telegraph office waiting for news, writing to McClellan urging him to make a move, or visiting Grant as he makes his plans for the final push. It's a simple but powerful biographical technique, and Donald does it very well.

    The book is split roughly evenly between Lincoln's pre-presidential life and his presidential service. Donald's coverage of Lincoln's early life is very interesting, effectively conveying Lincoln's poor origins and his varied early careers. His legal career is particularly well-covered, with interesting examples from his law practice demonstrated by specific cases he argued. His private life is also chronicled well, with his early romantic interests and courtship of Mary Todd all receiving their due attention. Lincoln's early political career is fascinating, as he moves from the disintegrating Whig party in helping form the new Republican party.

    Once the presidential years begin, the focus naturally shifts to Lincoln's execution of his public duties. As expected based on his premise, Donald doesn't focus on the battlefields or the goings on of the South, instead doing an excellent job of showing the juggling act Lincoln had to perform with the various Northern factions - Radical Republicans, Conservative Republicans, War Democrats, Peace Democrats; abolitionists, western states, border slave-holding states; incompetent generals, more incompetent generals, and finally Grant. Donald's presentation of Lincoln's masterful navigating of these difficult waters truly gives the reader a great appreciation for the challenges Lincoln overcame in holding the Union together. Donald does still touch upon Lincoln's personal life during these years, including difficulties regarding Mary, and the devastating loss of their son Willie.

    As I finished the book, I realized that, even knowing all along how it sadly must end, Donald had brought me so close to Lincoln that it touched me personally, as if I myself had lost a friend or mentor. I can only thank Donald for making that possible for someone almost a century and a half gone.

    I absolutely recommend Donald's Lincoln to anyone with an interest in American history. It is simply a masterfully told story of one of the most important people in American history at the most important Post-Revolution crossroads in American history.

    I was so impressed with this book that I plan to read Donald's Charles Sumner and the Coming of the American Civil War, which won the Pulitzer Prize and covers the radical abolitionist senator that was a leading voice during the Civil War, and who makes many appearances in Lincoln. I also plan to read other well-regarded single volume biographies of Lincoln, including Abraham Lincoln: A Biography by Benjamin P. Thomas (1952), With Malice Towards None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B. Oates (1977), and A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White, Jr. (2009), each of which was heralded as the best Lincoln biography of their time. While I can't expect them to top Donald, I am eager to learn more about Lincoln, including how he's been viewed over the years.
    25 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2016
    Excellent biography on Lincoln. Impassive and well-researched. Learned a LOT about Lincoln that I did not know. Some people like biographers to make conclusions on the subject. If you are one of these people this might not be the best book for you. The author's stated purpose is to be as objective as possible given the constraint of how many years have passed. And I think he did a great job of removing his bias from the content. That is generally how I like biographies. (Now autobiographies? I read those to get the subject's opinions!)

    Highly recommended!
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2005
    David Herbert Donald accomplishes with this biography the difficult goal of presenting Lincoln as a character at once thoroughly ordinary and exceptional. Although millions of words have been written about his subject, Lincoln remains shrouded in myth for many of us, but a reading of this fine biography parts those mists and reveals that the sixteenth president is not difficult to understand or relate to, onerous as his burdens may have been to bear.

    Donald's prose is as plain-spoken as the words favored by Lincoln, but that is not to say that it is ordinary. On the contrary: Donald's mastery of his subject allows him to write with exceptional clarity and admirable dispassion.

    While it is clear that on balance Donald greatly admires Lincoln, he never glorifies him. He is critical, for example, of Lincoln the Whig's occasional taste for demagogery in his partisan attacks on the rival Democratic Party early in his political career. In analyzing Lincoln's writings and speeches, he doesn't shy away from pointing out flaws and speciousness in their reasoning.

    The book is also valuable for its ability to present landmarks in Lincoln's career in a clearer light. The best example of this is the recounting of the famous series of debates in pursuit of a Senate seat between Lincoln and his primary rival of the time, Stephen Douglas. History, particularly as it is taught in high school, often presents these debates as lofty philosophical interchanges between the two on slavery, individual rights and the nature of liberty. Donald's careful analysis of each of the seven debates shows that while they contained moments of high drama and keen insight, they were all dragged down by petty attacks -- on both sides -- repetitive arguments and occasional poorly prepared remarks.

    Similarly, Donald points out a fact that is often forgotten: while Lincoln deplored slavery on moral grounds, he never believed that African-Americans were the equal of whites on any level. In fact, the author is quite critical of Lincoln's stubborn adherence to the idea that blacks could be relocated to Africa -- one that he held on to far longer than it merited, if indeed it ever did.

    The most intriguing and insightful portions of the book center on Lincoln's presidency, for which he was wholly unprepared, by his own admission. While many of us are aware in a general sense that Lincoln was under great pressure during his first term as a wartime president, Donald dramatizes the difficulties in great detail, bringing to life the nearly unbearable weight that Lincoln bore in trying to juggle the demands of a highly disputatious cabinet, a stubbornly unresponsive military leadership, and a Republican Party that was in many cases more hostile to him than were the Democrats.

    Lincoln's final success in bringing the war to a successful conclusion -- albeit at staggering human and financial cost -- is all the more satisfying and poignant for Donald's attention to the four years of disappointments. With the description of his death and the knowledge of the unfinished business that awaited his second term in rebuilding the nation, one is left to ponder more than ever what might have been had he not been assassinated.

    As a finely drawn portrait reveals something of its subject's inner life, "Lincoln," through its meticulous attention to detail, gives the reader a greater understanding of the man than any mere collection of facts could ever provide. Highly recommended.
    40 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Abel Torres
    4.0 out of 5 stars Buen producto
    Reviewed in Mexico on February 28, 2024
    Buena calidad, buen aspecto, llegó impecable
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    Abel Torres
    4.0 out of 5 stars Buen producto
    Reviewed in Mexico on February 28, 2024
    Buena calidad, buen aspecto, llegó impecable
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  • Guillaume Goulet
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly Well Researched!
    Reviewed in Canada on June 10, 2019
    I loved reading this book and found myself sitting hours on end reading it. It is very thorough and well researched. An excellent piece of history!
  • Dr Zhu Weiguang
    5.0 out of 5 stars A excellent book.
    Reviewed in Singapore on August 27, 2023
    Interesting to reading.
  • GATTU
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in India on February 25, 2018
    GOOD
  • Cliente Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente livro. Detalhado. Impecável.
    Reviewed in Brazil on October 28, 2016
    Este livro é exatamente aquilo que eu procurava: detalhado, contando a história do Mr. Lincoln desde seu nascimento na zona rural do Kentucky até seus últimos momentos na presidência.