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Abraham Lincoln: A Life
In the first multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln to be published in decades, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame offers a fresh look at the life of one of America’s greatest presidents. Incorporating the field notes of earlier biographers, along with decades of research in multiple manuscript archives and long-neglected newspapers, this remarkable work will both alter and reinforce current understanding of America’s sixteenth president.
Volume 1 covers Lincoln’s early childhood, his experiences as a farm boy in Indiana and Illinois, his legal training, and the political ambition that led to a term in Congress in the 1840s. In volume 2, Burlingame examines Lincoln’s life during his presidency and the Civil War, narrating in fascinating detail the crisis over Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s own battles with relentless office seekers, hostile newspaper editors, and incompetent field commanders. Burlingame also offers new interpretations of Lincoln’s private life, discussing his marriage to Mary Todd and the untimely deaths of two sons to disease.
But through it all—his difficult childhood, his contentious political career, a fratricidal war, and tragic personal losses—Lincoln preserved a keen sense of humor and acquired a psychological maturity that proved to be the North’s most valuable asset in winning the Civil War.
Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, this landmark publication establishes Burlingame as the most assiduous Lincoln biographer of recent memory and brings Lincoln alive to modern readers as never before.
Volume 1 covers Lincoln’s early childhood, his experiences as a farm boy in Indiana and Illinois, his legal training, and the political ambition that led to a term in Congress in the 1840s. In volume 2, Burlingame examines Lincoln’s life during his presidency and the Civil War, narrating in fascinating detail the crisis over Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s own battles with relentless office seekers, hostile newspaper editors, and incompetent field commanders. Burlingame also offers new interpretations of Lincoln’s private life, discussing his marriage to Mary Todd and the untimely deaths of two sons to disease.
But through it all—his difficult childhood, his contentious political career, a fratricidal war, and tragic personal losses—Lincoln preserved a keen sense of humor and acquired a psychological maturity that proved to be the North’s most valuable asset in winning the Civil War.
Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, this landmark publication establishes Burlingame as the most assiduous Lincoln biographer of recent memory and brings Lincoln alive to modern readers as never before.
2024 pages, Hardcover
First published October 12, 2008
88 people are currently reading
1058 people want to read
About the author
Michael Burlingame
49 books37 followersMichael Burlingame is the author of THE INNER WORLD OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1994) and the editor of a dozen books of Lincoln primary resource materials. He taught history at Connecticut College in New London for 33 years, retiring in 2001 to devote full time to ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A LIFE. That work is based on extensive research in manuscripts, newspapers, and public records, many of them overlooked or underutilized by previous biographers. He lives in Mystic, Connecticut."
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March 16, 2014
http://bestpresidentialbios.com/2014/...
“Abraham Lincoln: A Life” is Michael Burlingame’s 2008 two-volume biography of our sixteenth president. Burlingame is the author or editor of over a dozen books on Abraham Lincoln. His mentor was renowned Lincoln scholar David Herbert Donald (who taught a Civil War course Burlingame took as a freshman at Princeton). He is currently a professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
The scale and scope of Burlingame’s biography of Lincoln is breathtaking: at nearly 1,600 pages of text (plus 320 pages of notes) this magisterial work aspires to be the definitive Lincoln biography of our time. It is also the first comprehensive, multi-volume work on Lincoln in two-thirds of a century. But while the published two-volume series is substantial, its uncondensed (and far more heavily footnoted) version is twice the size – and free online.
This biography is obviously the result of time-consuming and painstaking research. Burlingame mined recently-released documents detailing Lincoln’s career as a lawyer and unearthed an impressive array of newspaper articles, diary entries and letters authored during Lincoln’s life. Not all of the fresh insight survived the editing process, however; a quick comparison of the published volumes with the lengthier online edition shows substantial material left on the editor’s floor in the interest of economy.
Nonetheless this biography is still far more extensive, and exhaustive, than most readers will require – or desire. Navigating these two volumes requires a fair degree of patience and perseverance. Fortunately, Burlingame is a facile storyteller and has authored a seemingly unique blend of (i) narrative history, (ii) psychoanalysis of Lincoln (and his often insufferable wife), and (iii) an encyclopedic accounting of nearly every aspect of Lincoln’s life.
The series generally proceeds chronologically and follows an outline similar to other Lincoln biographies. But because of the rich supply of supporting facts he has uncovered, Burlingame is able to buttress every main point with multiple anecdotes, quotes or first-hand observations. His style is generally to make a point and then reinforce it not once or twice, but often a half-dozen (or more) times from a variety of sources.
This is one of the series’s fundamental strengths – and one of its weaknesses. It is hard to imagine that a Lincoln enthusiast can be exposed to such a wide variety of perspectives on his Lincoln’s life anywhere else. But a slightly impatient reader will quickly learn to identify a key point or conclusion, read two or three supporting sentences, and then scan ahead to the next main point (skipping several paragraphs in the process).
“Abraham Lincoln: A Life” is primarily a story of Lincoln and his legal and political careers (and to a lesser degree, his psychological profile). It provides a vivid account of Lincoln’s youth and crushing poverty and an equally colorful description of what he endured in his marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln. But otherwise there is relatively little focus on Lincoln’s children, the Civil War or his assassination. Readers seeking a battlefield history of the war or the full John Wilkes Booth “assassination story” will be disappointed.
Volume 1 covers Lincoln’s first fifty-two years, from his early childhood to his election as president. The volume ends as Lincoln is boarding a train in Illinois to carry him to Washington for his inauguration. His chaotic family life and the circumstances surrounding his upbringing are brilliantly and thoroughly covered.
Coverage of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 was also outstanding as was the discussion of the Republican convention at which Lincoln was nominated as his party’s presidential candidate. Ironically, coverage of the presidential campaign itself was tedious and relatively uninteresting but Burlingame’s analysis of Lincoln’s cabinet selection process was fascinating.
Volume 2 covers Lincoln’s inauguration, presidency and death. Although not a good primer on the Civil War itself (rarely do we witness troop movements or battles and there is little discussion of military tactics or strategy) the volume provides a penetrating account of the national political scene and Lincoln’s behind-the-scenes struggles to reunify the nation and, ultimately, emancipate the nation’s slaves.
Overall, the breadth and depth of Burlingame’s series reminds me of James Flexner’s series on Washington and Dumas Malone’s series on Jefferson – though perhaps on steroids and with the benefit of modern research tools. In each case, the text may not always be lively, fun or carefree, but they are consistently insightful and scholarly.
Burlingame’s biography goes well beyond providing basic coverage so it is not ideal for someone new to Lincoln’s life. There is so much supporting evidence and detail that a reader unfamiliar with Lincoln or the Civil War may, at times, lose the forest for the trees. Fortunately, the story is well-written and is not focused narrowly on an academic audience. But the novice will be well-served to first read a more basic introduction to Lincoln’s life.
However, I cannot imagine a more thorough, informative or astute review of Lincoln’s life and political career than this series offers. It provides a wonderful source of insight into the life a remarkable politician (and man). No one – novice or scholar – can read Burlingame’s biography without developing a greater appreciation for how far Lincoln rose above his humble origins, and how great the challenges were he faced as president. Burlingame’s addition to the already extensive roster of Lincoln biographies is brilliant, invaluable and indispensable.
Overall rating: 4¼ stars
“Abraham Lincoln: A Life” is Michael Burlingame’s 2008 two-volume biography of our sixteenth president. Burlingame is the author or editor of over a dozen books on Abraham Lincoln. His mentor was renowned Lincoln scholar David Herbert Donald (who taught a Civil War course Burlingame took as a freshman at Princeton). He is currently a professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
The scale and scope of Burlingame’s biography of Lincoln is breathtaking: at nearly 1,600 pages of text (plus 320 pages of notes) this magisterial work aspires to be the definitive Lincoln biography of our time. It is also the first comprehensive, multi-volume work on Lincoln in two-thirds of a century. But while the published two-volume series is substantial, its uncondensed (and far more heavily footnoted) version is twice the size – and free online.
This biography is obviously the result of time-consuming and painstaking research. Burlingame mined recently-released documents detailing Lincoln’s career as a lawyer and unearthed an impressive array of newspaper articles, diary entries and letters authored during Lincoln’s life. Not all of the fresh insight survived the editing process, however; a quick comparison of the published volumes with the lengthier online edition shows substantial material left on the editor’s floor in the interest of economy.
Nonetheless this biography is still far more extensive, and exhaustive, than most readers will require – or desire. Navigating these two volumes requires a fair degree of patience and perseverance. Fortunately, Burlingame is a facile storyteller and has authored a seemingly unique blend of (i) narrative history, (ii) psychoanalysis of Lincoln (and his often insufferable wife), and (iii) an encyclopedic accounting of nearly every aspect of Lincoln’s life.
The series generally proceeds chronologically and follows an outline similar to other Lincoln biographies. But because of the rich supply of supporting facts he has uncovered, Burlingame is able to buttress every main point with multiple anecdotes, quotes or first-hand observations. His style is generally to make a point and then reinforce it not once or twice, but often a half-dozen (or more) times from a variety of sources.
This is one of the series’s fundamental strengths – and one of its weaknesses. It is hard to imagine that a Lincoln enthusiast can be exposed to such a wide variety of perspectives on his Lincoln’s life anywhere else. But a slightly impatient reader will quickly learn to identify a key point or conclusion, read two or three supporting sentences, and then scan ahead to the next main point (skipping several paragraphs in the process).
“Abraham Lincoln: A Life” is primarily a story of Lincoln and his legal and political careers (and to a lesser degree, his psychological profile). It provides a vivid account of Lincoln’s youth and crushing poverty and an equally colorful description of what he endured in his marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln. But otherwise there is relatively little focus on Lincoln’s children, the Civil War or his assassination. Readers seeking a battlefield history of the war or the full John Wilkes Booth “assassination story” will be disappointed.
Volume 1 covers Lincoln’s first fifty-two years, from his early childhood to his election as president. The volume ends as Lincoln is boarding a train in Illinois to carry him to Washington for his inauguration. His chaotic family life and the circumstances surrounding his upbringing are brilliantly and thoroughly covered.
Coverage of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 was also outstanding as was the discussion of the Republican convention at which Lincoln was nominated as his party’s presidential candidate. Ironically, coverage of the presidential campaign itself was tedious and relatively uninteresting but Burlingame’s analysis of Lincoln’s cabinet selection process was fascinating.
Volume 2 covers Lincoln’s inauguration, presidency and death. Although not a good primer on the Civil War itself (rarely do we witness troop movements or battles and there is little discussion of military tactics or strategy) the volume provides a penetrating account of the national political scene and Lincoln’s behind-the-scenes struggles to reunify the nation and, ultimately, emancipate the nation’s slaves.
Overall, the breadth and depth of Burlingame’s series reminds me of James Flexner’s series on Washington and Dumas Malone’s series on Jefferson – though perhaps on steroids and with the benefit of modern research tools. In each case, the text may not always be lively, fun or carefree, but they are consistently insightful and scholarly.
Burlingame’s biography goes well beyond providing basic coverage so it is not ideal for someone new to Lincoln’s life. There is so much supporting evidence and detail that a reader unfamiliar with Lincoln or the Civil War may, at times, lose the forest for the trees. Fortunately, the story is well-written and is not focused narrowly on an academic audience. But the novice will be well-served to first read a more basic introduction to Lincoln’s life.
However, I cannot imagine a more thorough, informative or astute review of Lincoln’s life and political career than this series offers. It provides a wonderful source of insight into the life a remarkable politician (and man). No one – novice or scholar – can read Burlingame’s biography without developing a greater appreciation for how far Lincoln rose above his humble origins, and how great the challenges were he faced as president. Burlingame’s addition to the already extensive roster of Lincoln biographies is brilliant, invaluable and indispensable.
Overall rating: 4¼ stars
January 6, 2009
Fantastic book! Truth be told, I'm also the narrator for the audio book version. It's projected to be 80 hours long.
March 11, 2011
Reading only the 1st volume at this time.
I read only this 1st volume of Burlingame's huge biography of Lincoln, saving the 2d for a later time. This volume takes him up to the eve of his 1st inauguration. The biography is big in scope and meticulous in detail. The only biography of Lincoln I can remember reading, this was promoted as offering new insight into a childhood in which the relationship with his father was strained, even abusive, and is therefore useful in explaining the formation of the young man. I appreciated how Burlingame could make lincoln come alive as he progressed through the years as shopkeeper, lawyer, and successful politician. On Burlingame's pages he's three dimensional. In covering his political career and views Burlingame has to necessarily explain the issues the midwest and nation dealt with at the time, the most important of which was slavery. As Lincoln's story moves to the national stage the big biography also becomes big history. Burlingame writes in considerable depth about the issues driving the various regions and acting to pull them apart. The long account of the Lincoln-Douglas debates is fascinating and is maybe the highlight of this volume. I never understood until now that the heart of the debates in the late 1850s was the institution of slavery itself. Darn good reading, but as biography it's almost too detailed, almost more than I want to know.
Currently reading the 2d volume.
A year ago to the day I finished the 1st volume of this biography. I enjoyed this 2d volume, covering the Lincoln wartime administration, more, maybe because the material is more familiar and easier for me to relate to. I found it engaging from start to finish. This is not only good biography but equally good history of the issues and pressures of the war years. There's a lot here I wasn't aware of, not only small details but larger issues such as the 1865 Hampton Roads peace negotiations with Confederate representatives which suggested an agreement for a peaceful end to the war might be hammered out before the Southern armies were defeated in the field. Nor was I aware of Mary Lincoln's questionable financial dealings with White House funds and her erratic emotional state. Burlingame explains all this and much more thoroughly and clearly, showing Lincoln's strengths and firm direction of a nation in crisis. Burlingame's account seems straightforward and honest, told without any perceptible slant regarding those influencing the course of the war or the government. He gives credit where due while being sharply critical of those who show weakness or fail in some way, for instance Mary Lincoln and George McClellan. For this reason I believe his portrait of Lincoln the man and wartime leader shows a person of extraordinary strength and wisdom and compassion. My admiration for him swells.
I read only this 1st volume of Burlingame's huge biography of Lincoln, saving the 2d for a later time. This volume takes him up to the eve of his 1st inauguration. The biography is big in scope and meticulous in detail. The only biography of Lincoln I can remember reading, this was promoted as offering new insight into a childhood in which the relationship with his father was strained, even abusive, and is therefore useful in explaining the formation of the young man. I appreciated how Burlingame could make lincoln come alive as he progressed through the years as shopkeeper, lawyer, and successful politician. On Burlingame's pages he's three dimensional. In covering his political career and views Burlingame has to necessarily explain the issues the midwest and nation dealt with at the time, the most important of which was slavery. As Lincoln's story moves to the national stage the big biography also becomes big history. Burlingame writes in considerable depth about the issues driving the various regions and acting to pull them apart. The long account of the Lincoln-Douglas debates is fascinating and is maybe the highlight of this volume. I never understood until now that the heart of the debates in the late 1850s was the institution of slavery itself. Darn good reading, but as biography it's almost too detailed, almost more than I want to know.
Currently reading the 2d volume.
A year ago to the day I finished the 1st volume of this biography. I enjoyed this 2d volume, covering the Lincoln wartime administration, more, maybe because the material is more familiar and easier for me to relate to. I found it engaging from start to finish. This is not only good biography but equally good history of the issues and pressures of the war years. There's a lot here I wasn't aware of, not only small details but larger issues such as the 1865 Hampton Roads peace negotiations with Confederate representatives which suggested an agreement for a peaceful end to the war might be hammered out before the Southern armies were defeated in the field. Nor was I aware of Mary Lincoln's questionable financial dealings with White House funds and her erratic emotional state. Burlingame explains all this and much more thoroughly and clearly, showing Lincoln's strengths and firm direction of a nation in crisis. Burlingame's account seems straightforward and honest, told without any perceptible slant regarding those influencing the course of the war or the government. He gives credit where due while being sharply critical of those who show weakness or fail in some way, for instance Mary Lincoln and George McClellan. For this reason I believe his portrait of Lincoln the man and wartime leader shows a person of extraordinary strength and wisdom and compassion. My admiration for him swells.
January 14, 2020
The most comprehensive treatise on Abraham Lincoln ever written. This is the gold standard that every Lincoln scholar must read.
March 26, 2024
After learning of the crushing Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, President Abraham Lincoln said that “if there is a worse place than hell I am in it.” When Pennsylvania Governor Andrew G. Curtin described the terrible scenes of slaughter from that battle, Lincoln, his face “darkened with pain,” “moaned and groaned in anguish,” “showed great agony of spirit,” and “walked the floor, wringing his hands and uttering exclamations of grief.” In that grief, Lincoln repeatedly asked, “What has God put me in this place for?”
The place that Lincoln occupied was the highest position of power in all the land, president of the United States. Unlike his fifteen presidential predecessors, however, Lincoln faced a task more daunting than any American commander in chief before him. With the nation ripped apart by a bloody Civil War, the fate of the United States rested on his shoulders. Fully realizing that the entire world was watching and waiting to see if the American experiment in self-government would survive, Lincoln knew that the Civil War was about more than just saving the Union forged by the Founding Fathers in 1776. He understood that the bitter, brutal conflict also stood as a test before the world, a world in which the vast majority of people had long lived under the rule of kings and sovereigns, of whether America’s system of free government, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, could long endure. As Lincoln famously said, “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”
The weight of difficulty that resulted from Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union, safeguard American liberty, and abolish slavery were trials more intense than almost any man could bear. His own personal struggles during the Civil War, which included the tragic death of his 11-year-old son Willie, the second child Lincoln and his wife Mary had lost during their marriage, only added more pain to his daily reality. As one contemporary put it, Lincoln was “a man who carried a load too great for human strength; and, as the years went on and the load grew heavier, it bowed him into premature old age.” As Lincoln himself said in despair after receiving news of yet another significant Union defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville, which was fought only four months after the loss at Fredericksburg, “I am the loneliest man in America. There is no one to whom I can go to unload my troubles, assured of sympathy and help.”
Considering the unfathomable pressure he was under and the suffering he endured in the execution of his duties as the 16th president of the United States, one can understand why a distraught Lincoln would ask, “What has God put me in this place for?” In attempting to answer that question, one must examine the long road of adversity that led Lincoln to the presidency. His entire life had been consumed with one hardship after another. Lincoln was born into a life of crippling poverty, an existence filled with so much hardship that one observer explained that at one point in his early life, Lincoln lived “amid want, poverty and discomfort that was . . . about on the plane of the slaves he was destined to emancipate.” From that crushing early period to the time he became president, Lincoln’s life never got any easier. Despite a life filled with the tragic deaths of loved ones, career failures, bouts of crippling, suicidal depression, and scores of other difficulties, Lincoln developed a mental and a moral fortitude that equipped him with the spirit of perseverance necessary to lead the United States through the unparalleled turbulence of the Civil War.
And so, to return to Lincoln’s question, “What has God put me in this place for?” Perhaps the reason God put Lincoln in that place was because he was the only man capable of taking on so tall of a task. Lincoln’s life of struggle prepared him for the indispensable role he was destined to play during the American Civil War, instilling him with an indomitable will, which when coupled with his immense wisdom and his sincere devotion to duty, honesty, and responsibility, made him the right man at the right time in history to guide America through its greatest crisis. By preserving American liberty, sparking “a new birth of freedom” for the United States by abolishing slavery, and ensuring that government of the people, by the people, and for the people did not perish from the earth, Lincoln left the world a far better place with a more hopeful future for the freedom of mankind. As the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy said, Abraham Lincoln “was a Christ in miniature, a saint of humanity,” a man who “lived and died a hero, and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives. May his life long bless humanity!”
For any student attempting to understand who Abraham Lincoln was at heart, the works of Michael Burlingame are essential reading. As historian James M. McPherson put it, Burlingame “knows more about Lincoln than any other living person.” In "Abraham Lincoln: A Life," Burlingame, in conjunction with Jonathan W. White, has distilled his original two-volume, 1.2 million-word biography of Lincoln into an updated one-volume abridgment. Burlingame’s book reflects a lifetime of Lincoln knowledge and scholarship. This valuable new work makes Abraham Lincoln’s story even more accessible to the general public and comes at a time when all Americans must look to the words and deeds of Lincoln as a guide to navigate our own divided, uncertain times. Studying Lincoln’s life and legacy has the power to make us all better Americans and people. As Burlingame writes, “Lincoln speaks to us not only as a champion of freedom, democracy, and national unity but also as a source of inspiration. Few will achieve his world historical importance, but many can profit from his personal example, encouraged by the knowledge that despite a childhood of emotional malnutrition and grinding poverty, despite a lack of formal education, despite a series of career failures, despite a woe-filed marriage, despite a tendency to depression, despite a painful midlife crisis, despite the early death of his mother and his siblings as well as of his sweetheart and two of his four children, he became a model of psychological maturity, moral clarity, and unimpeachable integrity. His presence and his leadership inspired his contemporaries; his life story can do the same for generations to come.”
The place that Lincoln occupied was the highest position of power in all the land, president of the United States. Unlike his fifteen presidential predecessors, however, Lincoln faced a task more daunting than any American commander in chief before him. With the nation ripped apart by a bloody Civil War, the fate of the United States rested on his shoulders. Fully realizing that the entire world was watching and waiting to see if the American experiment in self-government would survive, Lincoln knew that the Civil War was about more than just saving the Union forged by the Founding Fathers in 1776. He understood that the bitter, brutal conflict also stood as a test before the world, a world in which the vast majority of people had long lived under the rule of kings and sovereigns, of whether America’s system of free government, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, could long endure. As Lincoln famously said, “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”
The weight of difficulty that resulted from Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union, safeguard American liberty, and abolish slavery were trials more intense than almost any man could bear. His own personal struggles during the Civil War, which included the tragic death of his 11-year-old son Willie, the second child Lincoln and his wife Mary had lost during their marriage, only added more pain to his daily reality. As one contemporary put it, Lincoln was “a man who carried a load too great for human strength; and, as the years went on and the load grew heavier, it bowed him into premature old age.” As Lincoln himself said in despair after receiving news of yet another significant Union defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville, which was fought only four months after the loss at Fredericksburg, “I am the loneliest man in America. There is no one to whom I can go to unload my troubles, assured of sympathy and help.”
Considering the unfathomable pressure he was under and the suffering he endured in the execution of his duties as the 16th president of the United States, one can understand why a distraught Lincoln would ask, “What has God put me in this place for?” In attempting to answer that question, one must examine the long road of adversity that led Lincoln to the presidency. His entire life had been consumed with one hardship after another. Lincoln was born into a life of crippling poverty, an existence filled with so much hardship that one observer explained that at one point in his early life, Lincoln lived “amid want, poverty and discomfort that was . . . about on the plane of the slaves he was destined to emancipate.” From that crushing early period to the time he became president, Lincoln’s life never got any easier. Despite a life filled with the tragic deaths of loved ones, career failures, bouts of crippling, suicidal depression, and scores of other difficulties, Lincoln developed a mental and a moral fortitude that equipped him with the spirit of perseverance necessary to lead the United States through the unparalleled turbulence of the Civil War.
And so, to return to Lincoln’s question, “What has God put me in this place for?” Perhaps the reason God put Lincoln in that place was because he was the only man capable of taking on so tall of a task. Lincoln’s life of struggle prepared him for the indispensable role he was destined to play during the American Civil War, instilling him with an indomitable will, which when coupled with his immense wisdom and his sincere devotion to duty, honesty, and responsibility, made him the right man at the right time in history to guide America through its greatest crisis. By preserving American liberty, sparking “a new birth of freedom” for the United States by abolishing slavery, and ensuring that government of the people, by the people, and for the people did not perish from the earth, Lincoln left the world a far better place with a more hopeful future for the freedom of mankind. As the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy said, Abraham Lincoln “was a Christ in miniature, a saint of humanity,” a man who “lived and died a hero, and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives. May his life long bless humanity!”
For any student attempting to understand who Abraham Lincoln was at heart, the works of Michael Burlingame are essential reading. As historian James M. McPherson put it, Burlingame “knows more about Lincoln than any other living person.” In "Abraham Lincoln: A Life," Burlingame, in conjunction with Jonathan W. White, has distilled his original two-volume, 1.2 million-word biography of Lincoln into an updated one-volume abridgment. Burlingame’s book reflects a lifetime of Lincoln knowledge and scholarship. This valuable new work makes Abraham Lincoln’s story even more accessible to the general public and comes at a time when all Americans must look to the words and deeds of Lincoln as a guide to navigate our own divided, uncertain times. Studying Lincoln’s life and legacy has the power to make us all better Americans and people. As Burlingame writes, “Lincoln speaks to us not only as a champion of freedom, democracy, and national unity but also as a source of inspiration. Few will achieve his world historical importance, but many can profit from his personal example, encouraged by the knowledge that despite a childhood of emotional malnutrition and grinding poverty, despite a lack of formal education, despite a series of career failures, despite a woe-filed marriage, despite a tendency to depression, despite a painful midlife crisis, despite the early death of his mother and his siblings as well as of his sweetheart and two of his four children, he became a model of psychological maturity, moral clarity, and unimpeachable integrity. His presence and his leadership inspired his contemporaries; his life story can do the same for generations to come.”
March 31, 2014
Having read half a dozen biographies of Abraham Lincoln I was hopeful that volume one of the new massive two volume bio. of Lincoln by Michael Burlingame would contain fresh material and insight. I was not disappointed . Mining newspaper accounts , letters,speeches,court room records,and personal recollections all from his contemporaries (as well as Lincoln himself) Burlingame has uncovered a wealth of material. It all goes towards showing the formation and growth of a remarkable man. The author does not seem to spare the reader any reference made of Lincoln but in my opinion far from overwhelming the reader it enriches and renders a fuller rounded image of the man and the people and events that shaped him. This book takes Lincoln from his childhood up to his election as President. I look forward to the second volume.
July 11, 2017
This very complete work is a wonderful source on the life of Abraham Lincoln. Its great size though is at times fearful, but if you need to understand Lincoln and have a quick reading skills this two volume set is for you.
July 12, 2020
Terrifically readable while remaining ridiculously comprehensive.
June 30, 2024
It's not every day that a 626-page book catches your eye and you check it out on an impulse. Michael Burlingame's abridged biography of Abraham Lincoln was worth the commitment, even if I came to understand why authors generally only focus on certain aspects or periods of Lincoln's life. The sheer amount of detail -- particularly during his early political career in the 1840s -- is disproportional to its historical significance. Burlingame's interpretation of this period's effect on Lincoln's psyche is nonetheless interesting, and makes me want to take a look at the author's other books in which he more closely examines this side.
There were also some great Lincoln stories that I was surprised never to have heard before. How is it possible that with our cult of Lincoln, I never knew that he once climbed out of the window of the Illinois legislature to avoid the forming of a quorum, or that he escaped from a duel simply by choosing cavalry sabers as the weapon and having long arms? Maybe we don't tell these stories because they don't say as much about Lincoln's character as walking miles to return a few pennies to an overcharged customer, but they are entertaining nonetheless.
I very much appreciated the insight this book provided me into Abraham Lincoln's sense of humor. Without devoting too much explicit space to the topic, Burlingame nonetheless drove home Lincoln's humor by frequently providing his off-the-cuff reactions to certain situations. What I find inspiring about Lincoln is that, while he took his duty seriously and did the best job that he could, he didn't take *himself* too seriously. I hope I can also fulfill all of my responsibilities while remaining humble.
On the topic of humor and psychology, however, I would have liked a little more analysis of one recurring theme in Lincoln's jokes. Reading this book, it seemed to me that Lincoln very often joked about hanging himself or being hanged. I don't believe Burlingame explicitly commented on the psychology behind this rather uncomfortable joke, and I would have liked a little analysis here.
I also sorely missed a discussion of sources, which Burlingame never addressed. I know that he's a preeminent Lincoln scholar with several Lincoln books under his belt, so maybe he didn't feel like rehashing the issues here. But I still wanted some acknowledgment of the difficulties associated with different sources. When were they written, by whom, and how trustworthy are they?
I also found it somewhat uncomfortable that Michael Burlingame clearly hates Mary Todd Lincoln. I liked Burlingame's analysis of how Lincoln came to marry Mary, even if his heart wasn't in the marriage; I was deeply struck by the suggestion that Mary's nagging and abuse drove Lincoln to be active outside the home whenever possible; and I can understand how someone who's dedicated much of his life to Abraham Lincoln could come to despise the First Lady for making Lincoln's existence difficult. But. The level of unaddressed disdain the author radiated toward Mary bordered on the unprofessional, and the repeated descriptions of Mary's tantrums in the last 50 pages of the book came to feel rather petty. Why did we need to know that she resented Mrs. Grant in the final weeks of the war? Why devote so much space to this in the last part of Lincoln's life?
Still, I took a lot from this biography and am inspired to read and learn more about the best U.S. president, by Michael Burlingame and by other scholars.
There were also some great Lincoln stories that I was surprised never to have heard before. How is it possible that with our cult of Lincoln, I never knew that he once climbed out of the window of the Illinois legislature to avoid the forming of a quorum, or that he escaped from a duel simply by choosing cavalry sabers as the weapon and having long arms? Maybe we don't tell these stories because they don't say as much about Lincoln's character as walking miles to return a few pennies to an overcharged customer, but they are entertaining nonetheless.
I very much appreciated the insight this book provided me into Abraham Lincoln's sense of humor. Without devoting too much explicit space to the topic, Burlingame nonetheless drove home Lincoln's humor by frequently providing his off-the-cuff reactions to certain situations. What I find inspiring about Lincoln is that, while he took his duty seriously and did the best job that he could, he didn't take *himself* too seriously. I hope I can also fulfill all of my responsibilities while remaining humble.
On the topic of humor and psychology, however, I would have liked a little more analysis of one recurring theme in Lincoln's jokes. Reading this book, it seemed to me that Lincoln very often joked about hanging himself or being hanged. I don't believe Burlingame explicitly commented on the psychology behind this rather uncomfortable joke, and I would have liked a little analysis here.
I also sorely missed a discussion of sources, which Burlingame never addressed. I know that he's a preeminent Lincoln scholar with several Lincoln books under his belt, so maybe he didn't feel like rehashing the issues here. But I still wanted some acknowledgment of the difficulties associated with different sources. When were they written, by whom, and how trustworthy are they?
I also found it somewhat uncomfortable that Michael Burlingame clearly hates Mary Todd Lincoln. I liked Burlingame's analysis of how Lincoln came to marry Mary, even if his heart wasn't in the marriage; I was deeply struck by the suggestion that Mary's nagging and abuse drove Lincoln to be active outside the home whenever possible; and I can understand how someone who's dedicated much of his life to Abraham Lincoln could come to despise the First Lady for making Lincoln's existence difficult. But. The level of unaddressed disdain the author radiated toward Mary bordered on the unprofessional, and the repeated descriptions of Mary's tantrums in the last 50 pages of the book came to feel rather petty. Why did we need to know that she resented Mrs. Grant in the final weeks of the war? Why devote so much space to this in the last part of Lincoln's life?
Still, I took a lot from this biography and am inspired to read and learn more about the best U.S. president, by Michael Burlingame and by other scholars.
January 1, 2026
excellent
May 2, 2025
At 7:22 a.m., the president finally stopped breathing. "Now he belongs to the ages," Stanton said tearfully.
Lincoln was mourned as the savior of the Union, the liberator of the slaves, and the vindicator of democracy. In a eulogy delivered on June 1, 1865, Frederick Douglass would tell a large audience at Manhattan's Cooper Union that Lincoln was "in a sense hitherto without example, emphatically the black man's President: the first to show any respect for their rights as men." Although Douglass had been highly critical of Lincoln at various points during the war, he now eloquently con-cluded, "He was the first American President who ... rose above the prejudice of his times, and country."
Leo Tolstoy's tribute, given during an interview in 1909, provides moving testimony to the universality of Lincoln's fame. The Russian novelist admired the president’s “peculiar moral power” and “the greatness of his character”. Lincoln, he said “was what Beethoven was in music, Dante in poetry, Raphael in painting, and Christ in the philosophy of life." No political leader matched Lincoln, in Tolstoy's judgment: "Of all the great national heroes and statesmen of history Lincoln is the only real giant. Alexander, Frederick the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, Gladstone and even Washington stand in greatness of character, in depth of feeling and in a certain moral power far behind Lincoln. Lincoln was a man of whom a nation has a right to be proud; he was a Christ in miniature, a saint of humanity, whose name will live thousands of years in the legends of future generations. We are still too near to his greatness, and so can hardly appreciate his divine power; but after a few centuries more our posterity will find him considerably bigger than we do. His genius is still too strong and too powerful for the common understanding, just as the sun is too hot when its light beams directly on us." Lincoln "lived and died a hero, and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives. May his life long bless humanity!"
Lincoln speaks to us not only as a champion of freedom, democracy, and national unity but also as a source of inspiration. Few will achieve his world historical importance, but many can profit from his personal example, encouraged by the knowledge that despite a childhood of emotional malnutrition and grinding poverty, despite a lack of formal education, despite a series of career failures, despite a woe-filled marriage, despite a tendency to depression, despite a painful midlife crisis, despite the early death of his mother and his siblings as well as of his sweetheart and two of his four children, he became a model of psychological maturity, moral clarity, and unimpeachable integrity. His presence and his leadership inspired his contemporaries; his life story can do the same for generations to come.
Lincoln was mourned as the savior of the Union, the liberator of the slaves, and the vindicator of democracy. In a eulogy delivered on June 1, 1865, Frederick Douglass would tell a large audience at Manhattan's Cooper Union that Lincoln was "in a sense hitherto without example, emphatically the black man's President: the first to show any respect for their rights as men." Although Douglass had been highly critical of Lincoln at various points during the war, he now eloquently con-cluded, "He was the first American President who ... rose above the prejudice of his times, and country."
Leo Tolstoy's tribute, given during an interview in 1909, provides moving testimony to the universality of Lincoln's fame. The Russian novelist admired the president’s “peculiar moral power” and “the greatness of his character”. Lincoln, he said “was what Beethoven was in music, Dante in poetry, Raphael in painting, and Christ in the philosophy of life." No political leader matched Lincoln, in Tolstoy's judgment: "Of all the great national heroes and statesmen of history Lincoln is the only real giant. Alexander, Frederick the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, Gladstone and even Washington stand in greatness of character, in depth of feeling and in a certain moral power far behind Lincoln. Lincoln was a man of whom a nation has a right to be proud; he was a Christ in miniature, a saint of humanity, whose name will live thousands of years in the legends of future generations. We are still too near to his greatness, and so can hardly appreciate his divine power; but after a few centuries more our posterity will find him considerably bigger than we do. His genius is still too strong and too powerful for the common understanding, just as the sun is too hot when its light beams directly on us." Lincoln "lived and died a hero, and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives. May his life long bless humanity!"
Lincoln speaks to us not only as a champion of freedom, democracy, and national unity but also as a source of inspiration. Few will achieve his world historical importance, but many can profit from his personal example, encouraged by the knowledge that despite a childhood of emotional malnutrition and grinding poverty, despite a lack of formal education, despite a series of career failures, despite a woe-filled marriage, despite a tendency to depression, despite a painful midlife crisis, despite the early death of his mother and his siblings as well as of his sweetheart and two of his four children, he became a model of psychological maturity, moral clarity, and unimpeachable integrity. His presence and his leadership inspired his contemporaries; his life story can do the same for generations to come.
April 3, 2018
Abraham Lincoln has not wanted for biographers since his death, and every year new volumes about his life and presidency are added to shelves already groaning with them. Yet as Michael Burlingame notes at the start of this magnificent book, multi-volume studies of Lincoln’s life have been scarce of late, with the most recent one published decades ago. His biography is an effort to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive interpretation of Lincoln’s life, one that draws upon the enormous body of material accumulated about our 16th president to provide a deeper understanding of who he was and how he shaped our nation’s history.
The result is a breathtakingly thorough account of Lincoln’s life. In two volumes Burlingame traces Lincoln’s life from his early years on the Indiana and Illinois frontier to his tragic death on the eve of the Union’s victory over the Confederacy. Throughout his focus is resolutely on Lincoln, showing how he developed as a person and how that person sought to address the myriad challenges he faced throughout his life. In the process he draws out some fascinating insights, ones that reveal Lincoln as a man of principle and ambition, whose evolution into the “Great Emancipator” only came after a substantial career in the politics and the law.
Yet Burlingame also shows how despite considerable success as a Whig representative in the Illinois state legislature and a term in Congress, Lincoln was continually underestimated by many of his contemporaries, who dismissed him as a pleasant fellow who was not up to the challenges of the nation’s highest office. Such assessments ignored (and often enabled) Lincoln’s mastery of the political game, and Burlingame almost relishes recounting how he bested his opponents time and again. Where that mastery is best displayed, however, is on the issue of slavery, as Lincoln demonstrated throughout his career an ability to push his constituents to the limits in their opposition to the “peculiar institution” – and sometimes beyond them as well.
By the end of this book Burlingame leaves his readers with a profound appreciation of who Lincoln was as a person and how his personality shaped our nation’s history. Even those already familiar with Lincoln’s life will learn much from its pages, as Burlingame offers a perspective of his subject gained from a career spent studying the man. Nobody who wishes to understand in depth our nation’s 16th president can afford to ignore this book, which is unlikely to be surpassed soon for its breath of research and the depths of its analysis.
The result is a breathtakingly thorough account of Lincoln’s life. In two volumes Burlingame traces Lincoln’s life from his early years on the Indiana and Illinois frontier to his tragic death on the eve of the Union’s victory over the Confederacy. Throughout his focus is resolutely on Lincoln, showing how he developed as a person and how that person sought to address the myriad challenges he faced throughout his life. In the process he draws out some fascinating insights, ones that reveal Lincoln as a man of principle and ambition, whose evolution into the “Great Emancipator” only came after a substantial career in the politics and the law.
Yet Burlingame also shows how despite considerable success as a Whig representative in the Illinois state legislature and a term in Congress, Lincoln was continually underestimated by many of his contemporaries, who dismissed him as a pleasant fellow who was not up to the challenges of the nation’s highest office. Such assessments ignored (and often enabled) Lincoln’s mastery of the political game, and Burlingame almost relishes recounting how he bested his opponents time and again. Where that mastery is best displayed, however, is on the issue of slavery, as Lincoln demonstrated throughout his career an ability to push his constituents to the limits in their opposition to the “peculiar institution” – and sometimes beyond them as well.
By the end of this book Burlingame leaves his readers with a profound appreciation of who Lincoln was as a person and how his personality shaped our nation’s history. Even those already familiar with Lincoln’s life will learn much from its pages, as Burlingame offers a perspective of his subject gained from a career spent studying the man. Nobody who wishes to understand in depth our nation’s 16th president can afford to ignore this book, which is unlikely to be surpassed soon for its breath of research and the depths of its analysis.
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January 22, 2015It sucks reading this on my ipad because nobody can see WHAT A HUGE BOOK I'M READING! Also, when I casually drop in conversation that I'm reading a bio of Lincoln, everyone assumes it's that vampire hunter one. Maybe they're just pretending to think that to spite me. It's hard to tell. But now you know the impressive truth about me! Oh, you want to know something about the book? Well, the first 28% is really good. I never realized what a bastard Stephen A. Douglas was, but this is the kind of stuff they sugarcoat in Texas public schools, or at least they did, back in 1990.
Currently reading
January 24, 2009Massive, new and proported to be the most comprehensive and well researched biography of Lincoln yet and, so far, it looks to be so to me. I have already found that he has used a lot of newly found documents I have not heard of before. Fairly daunting read- over 2,000 small print pages in 2 volumes. So far, worth it.
August 9, 2011
If you wish to read the definitive work on Abraham Lincoln go no further than Billingame's 2 volume 1605 page (citations not included) tome. This work has it all and is remarkably readable. The detail, balance, and scholarship of this colossal work are simply incredible, but be prepared for the long journey. This book is not for those with ADD.
March 29, 2017
At 1595 pages this book is the longest one I have ever read. This exhaustive biography on the life of Abraham Lincoln is one of the best ever written. Along with Team of Rivals, it is essential reading for anyone that wants to know why our greatest president is our greatest president.
March 26, 2011
5++ stars. the best and most complete portrait of Lincoln I've ever read. On a par with Caro's LBJ biography for pure illumination of a political mind.
October 16, 2011
two volumes of pure Lincoln from all aspects of his life,speehes and interaction with those indivduals who were instrumental in shaping the country once and for all.A must read for all Lincoln Lovers
December 30, 2012
Extraordinary detail. Not always an easy read but this biography brings Lincoln to life. Having read this before the Spielberg film, the Daniel Day-Lewis portrayal is impressive and rings true.
February 11, 2020
At one time, America had a President of the highest character, and with awesome intelligence, and sincere commitment to the well being of the country.
September 26, 2020
I don’t want to seem elitist, but if you have only a casual interest in Abraham Lincoln, you might want to leave this 55-hour book unread. I say that because of its length, not the writing style of the author. He does a brilliant job of exploring an already well-explored life and adding much valuable information to the collection of data we have. Just when you think no one can possibly have anything more to say about Lincoln, someone angles the research a little differently or adds to the voluminous data with newly found vetted material.
This first volume is an exhaustive but not exhausting study of the 16th president’s life from birth to his election. I assume volume two takes on the presidential years, but I won’t be reading that for a while. I need a bit of a break from this one because of the length. For what it’s worth, there’s an online edition of this that is unedited and is significantly longer than the print book. But if you read the book, you’ll come away with fascinating information.
You’ll read about Lincoln’s sad deprived early life with a promiscuous course mother who did little to show love. The book looks at the sense of abandonment the boy felt when that mother died, and it explores whether that event altered how Lincoln felt about women from that time forward. The author looks at the influence of Lincoln’s stepmother, and he demonstrates Lincoln’s voracious desire to learn—to grasp new things.
The book covers the young-adult life and the various jobs he held. It looks at his brief military service and his election to Congress.
There’s a whole section almost exclusively dedicated to Mary Todd, the woman Lincoln would begrudgingly marry out of a sense of duty and obligation, but probably not love. This is the story of the young lawyer who rode the circuits in the spring and fall—a lawyer whose home life was so consistently horrible that he preferred to remain for the weekend in whatever town he had ridden to for court on Monday.
The book looks at the famous Lincoln Douglas debates, and you get an eye-opening picture of the putrid racist Steven A. Douglas—what a lowlife that guy seems to have been, based on the language he used and the ideas he proposed.
Heft this book and read about the eventful Republican national convention in 1860 held in Chicago. Burlingame does a nice job of building the suspense for you, even though you know who wins, as ballots are counted and Lincoln’s managers quietly navigate the hall, making promises the new president won’t be able to keep if he’s elected. You are there celebrating as Lincoln is ultimately declared a winner, and so well is this written you can almost feel the floor shake and the walls groan under the sound of the thousands of Lincoln delegates scream themselves hoarse and flinging their hats in the air as if hats had no value.
Almost never did I experience a mind-wandering time with this. The author and his associates crafted seamless edits that turned this into a relatively portable book.
This first volume is an exhaustive but not exhausting study of the 16th president’s life from birth to his election. I assume volume two takes on the presidential years, but I won’t be reading that for a while. I need a bit of a break from this one because of the length. For what it’s worth, there’s an online edition of this that is unedited and is significantly longer than the print book. But if you read the book, you’ll come away with fascinating information.
You’ll read about Lincoln’s sad deprived early life with a promiscuous course mother who did little to show love. The book looks at the sense of abandonment the boy felt when that mother died, and it explores whether that event altered how Lincoln felt about women from that time forward. The author looks at the influence of Lincoln’s stepmother, and he demonstrates Lincoln’s voracious desire to learn—to grasp new things.
The book covers the young-adult life and the various jobs he held. It looks at his brief military service and his election to Congress.
There’s a whole section almost exclusively dedicated to Mary Todd, the woman Lincoln would begrudgingly marry out of a sense of duty and obligation, but probably not love. This is the story of the young lawyer who rode the circuits in the spring and fall—a lawyer whose home life was so consistently horrible that he preferred to remain for the weekend in whatever town he had ridden to for court on Monday.
The book looks at the famous Lincoln Douglas debates, and you get an eye-opening picture of the putrid racist Steven A. Douglas—what a lowlife that guy seems to have been, based on the language he used and the ideas he proposed.
Heft this book and read about the eventful Republican national convention in 1860 held in Chicago. Burlingame does a nice job of building the suspense for you, even though you know who wins, as ballots are counted and Lincoln’s managers quietly navigate the hall, making promises the new president won’t be able to keep if he’s elected. You are there celebrating as Lincoln is ultimately declared a winner, and so well is this written you can almost feel the floor shake and the walls groan under the sound of the thousands of Lincoln delegates scream themselves hoarse and flinging their hats in the air as if hats had no value.
Almost never did I experience a mind-wandering time with this. The author and his associates crafted seamless edits that turned this into a relatively portable book.
November 10, 2021
I am reading the online version because it is more detailed than the actual book. For some readers it might be too long and detailed, but for me this is exactly what I want in a biography of a great leader. Authors who have not accomplished great things themselves may miss key insights when trying to condense, and the more they condense the more likely this is to be true. Thorough and detailed allows one to understand the character of the person. Lincoln is of particular interest to me, not because of the (false) list of all his failures that gets passed around but because he had a quite promising early career (a State Rep at 25! leader of his party's legislative delegation soon after!) that he almost threw away through a series of mistakes in his late 20s and early 30s. Finally, at 33, after almost being in a duel he reformed his character in important ways that set him up for later success. I started reading this book at 32 by skipping right to that section, thinking I might be making some of Lincoln's early mistakes myself, and particularly curious about this chapter of his life. It did not disappoint, so now I am working my way through the whole book.
October 21, 2022
4.5 stars
This is best of the 3 full bios of Lincoln I’ve read (excluding the exceptional Doris Kearns’ Team of Rivals’, which is not a complete bio)
Easy to read and full of details that add richness and color. Sometimes the author belabors a point with too many supporting quotes so this bio might be too much of a slog for the casual biography reader.
This bio comes closer than most to drawing a portrait of the ‘personal’ Lincoln due to the many reminiscences of those who interacted with him. It seems Lincoln was truly a ‘what you see is what you get’ type of person.
One early chapter is striking in its description of Mary & Abe’s early marriage. Mary comes across as an incredibly cruel shrew. It’s a miracle Abe didn’t strangle her.
Burligame ends this Volume 1 with Lincoln’s short goodbye speech as he left Springfield for his inauguration. The reader can’t help feeling the pathos of that goodbye, knowing how the future turned out for Honest Old Abe.
This is best of the 3 full bios of Lincoln I’ve read (excluding the exceptional Doris Kearns’ Team of Rivals’, which is not a complete bio)
Easy to read and full of details that add richness and color. Sometimes the author belabors a point with too many supporting quotes so this bio might be too much of a slog for the casual biography reader.
This bio comes closer than most to drawing a portrait of the ‘personal’ Lincoln due to the many reminiscences of those who interacted with him. It seems Lincoln was truly a ‘what you see is what you get’ type of person.
One early chapter is striking in its description of Mary & Abe’s early marriage. Mary comes across as an incredibly cruel shrew. It’s a miracle Abe didn’t strangle her.
Burligame ends this Volume 1 with Lincoln’s short goodbye speech as he left Springfield for his inauguration. The reader can’t help feeling the pathos of that goodbye, knowing how the future turned out for Honest Old Abe.
November 12, 2025
A strong and largely enjoyable biography about America's 16th President. With expansive detail drawn through reported 1st hand accounts, largely from Lincoln himself, Burlingame provides the reader a detailed account of America's greatest President. While the biographical elements of Abraham Lincoln: A Life are incredibly engaging, Burlingame misses the mark when trying to interweave the Civil War's evolution with Lincoln's evolving thought and character. Unlike Robert's Napoleon , Broer's works on the Napoleonic wars or Ambrose's Eisenhower , Abraham Lincoln , for me, fails to capture the dynamic nature of war and instead overloads the reader with excessive, detached detail. In short, a good work to understand Lincoln's character, motivation, and complexity. Not such a good work for appreciating the American Civil War.
February 21, 2018
fantastic. incredibly detailed. gives a really strong sense of Lincoln as a human being, and of the contemporary issues he was confronted with. did not expect Lincoln to come across as so human. expected the issues and political climate he dealt with to be reminiscent of today's, but did not expect the parallels to be so obvious; at the same time, was constantly reminded how far away the past was.
the (even longer) unabridged version is actually free online at - https://www.knox.edu/about-knox/linco... - casual readers are probably better off just reading the normal version, and even at that will probably find that every chapter has a couple pages they kind of breeze through.
the (even longer) unabridged version is actually free online at - https://www.knox.edu/about-knox/linco... - casual readers are probably better off just reading the normal version, and even at that will probably find that every chapter has a couple pages they kind of breeze through.
November 5, 2025
Magisterial…!
Of course I haven’t read any other biography of Abraham Lincoln but I would be very surprised if any of them came close to Burlingame’s magisterial account. My favourite parts amongst many are of course, The Gettysburg Address, which I would think is up there as many readers favourite passage, and The Bixby Letter, which is a letter fitting for any grieving mother who has lost a son or daughter to war. I learnt that the story surrounding this letter is very much economical with the truth but, now knowing the truth does not detract from its power and poignancy. A must read for any disciple of American or world politics. An outstanding read that I will refer to often in the future. 5 Stars.
Of course I haven’t read any other biography of Abraham Lincoln but I would be very surprised if any of them came close to Burlingame’s magisterial account. My favourite parts amongst many are of course, The Gettysburg Address, which I would think is up there as many readers favourite passage, and The Bixby Letter, which is a letter fitting for any grieving mother who has lost a son or daughter to war. I learnt that the story surrounding this letter is very much economical with the truth but, now knowing the truth does not detract from its power and poignancy. A must read for any disciple of American or world politics. An outstanding read that I will refer to often in the future. 5 Stars.
October 11, 2020
Very detailed, much here I never read before. Very worthwhile.
January 19, 2024
This is an historical account on the scale of Everest
September 29, 2024
My favorite Lincoln biography.
January 9, 2026
Excellent deep dive on one of America's most revered presidents. Burlingame doesn't stray from acknowledging Lincoln's struggles with depression, family difficulties, and political decisions that complicate the Lincoln legacy (colonization efforts in Panama after proposing emancipation, for example). Above all, Lincoln comes across as extremely human, and Burlingame avoids speculation and judging by modern standards. A fantastic read!
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