Lincoln on LincolnPaul M. Zall Though Abraham Lincoln has been the subject of numerous biographies, his personality remains an enigma. During his lifetime, Lincoln prepared two sketches of his life for the 1860 presidential race. These brief campaign portraits serve as the core around which Paul Zall weaves extracts from correspondence, speeches, and interviews to produce an in-depth biography. Lincoln's writing about himself offers a window into the soul and mind of one of America's greatest president. His words reveal an emotional evolution typically submerged in political biographies. Lincoln on Lincoln shows a man struggling to reconcile personal ambition and civic virtue, conscience and Constitution, and ultimately the will of God and the will of the people. Zall frames Lincoln's words with his own illuminating commentary, providing a continuous, compelling narrative. Beginning with Lincoln's thoughts on his parents, the story moves though his youth and early successes and failures in law and politics, and culminates in his clashes and conflicts—internal as well as external—as president of a divided country. Through his writings, Lincoln said much more about himself than is commonly recognized, and Zall uses this material to create a unique portrait of this pivotal figure. |
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... interests. Neighbors recalled that his first speech was at a debating club (“did pretty well”) and that he “used to walk 6 miles” to another debating club where “men of no education whatever” would practice what they called “polemics ...
... interests.13 When one opponent referred to him as a young man, Lincoln counteracted by alluding to his critic as a turncoat who felt obligated to place a lightning rod on his new house: “I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks ...
... interest appears in his absences—92 in the last session of 1840 versus colleagues' average of 53.7, while two returns in 1840 showed him trailing his party at the polls (Simon 150, 206, 271). 1840 I do not think my prospects ...
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Contents
Making His Way with Wit and Wisdom | |
Stumping the State and the Nation | |
Preserving Protecting Defending | |
Making Peace All Passion Spent | |
Notes | |