Becoming Abraham Lincoln: The Coming of Age of Our Greatest President

by Richard Kigel

Becoming Abraham The Coming of Age of Our Greatest President tells the true story of how this great American hero grew up and became a man. The story begins with Lincoln’s cousin describing the murder of Abe’s grandfather in 1782 by the Wabash Indians in the Kentucky wilderness. It ends as Lincoln turns twenty-five, downcast and debt-ridden after the failure of his first business venture, as he earns his first election victory to take his seat in the Illinois State Legislature. This vivid, authentic account of Abraham Lincoln in his formative years is told by those who were there—his friends and family. Supported by rigorous research, Becoming Abraham Lincoln is an authentic account of Lincoln’s childhood and adolescence in the actual words of those who knew him best. We see Lincoln as he was, according to law partner Billy Herndon, “just as he lived, breathed, ate and laughed in this world.” The historic eyewitness testimony in these pages forms a rich, detailed narrative unmatched in all Lincoln literature.

Genres: Biography, History, American History, Nonfiction, Presidents, Ebooks

299 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2017

Reviews

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the book, the love for reading sounded very interesting. However, I did not feel it through the story.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a interesting and fascinating look at Abraham Lincoln's early years from birth to age twenty-five. Much has been written about Lincoln's rise to the presidency. Kigel's work fills that void by using this read on his formative years. I was quite impressed. His use of primary sources such as friends and acquaintances to tell Lincoln's story made this a very enjoyable read. Sometimes it was a little choppy in places but all in all it was a damn goodread.

[David Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating is probably 3.5 but I erred on the high rather than low side because of the tremendous amount of work the author did to pull pertinent passages from "Herndon's Informants" and other resources. The book ostensibly follows a chronological narrative but does seem rather choppy in places. These criticisms aside, the book is actually a pretty good summary of Lincoln's life as seen through the eyes of people who knew him.

Quick background: "Herndon's Informants" is a compendium by Lincoln experts Wilson and Davis. It collects all the interviews and correspondence conducted by Lincoln's long-time law partner William Herndon immediately after the assassination. Herndon communicated in person and by letter with dozens of people who knew Lincoln during his early life in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. He used the information in his biography of Lincoln written with Jesse Weik. Wilson and Davis pulled all of these together and provided substantial annotation to correct errors, give background, provide additional analysis, and create a hugely beneficial index.

Author Richard Kigel clearly spent a lot of time searching keywords in the index of "Herndon's Informants" to pull out relevant quotes and impressions on Lincoln throughout his upbringing. Each of the 32 chapters is short, packed with quotes (mostly well footnoted), and represents a vignette of some incident or period in Lincoln's life from birth through his formative years and into his early adult life in New Salem. He uses the quotes from people who knew Lincoln to give insight into Lincoln's development, character, and thoughts. Kigel adds his own insights, as well as enough background and transitioning material to make every chapter into its own story. As we progress through the chapters, we progress through Lincoln's life.

Some chapters carry the story concept better than others. Because the book is broken up into 32 more or less independent sections, some readers may not feel the overall story of Lincoln's life is fully coherent. Count me in this latter category. As much as I read about Lincoln, this book felt like it dragged on rather than carried me through. [In all fairness, I was taking notes as I went along rather than reading it for flow]

In my opening I alluded to the tremendous amount of work Kigel did going through Herndon's correspondence with Lincoln friends and family. This may be the book's greatest value. Herndon's Informants is near impossible to read (I'm being nice here) but serves as a fantastic primary resource for Lincoln researchers. Kigel has extracted comments, insights, and anecdotes on many facets of Lincoln's life and organized them into each of the chapter vignettes (Herndon's Informants has them spread almost randomly over 800 pages of text). So the book more or less works both as a general chronology of Lincoln's life and as a first step for Lincoln researchers looking for primary resource material.

There have been a spate of books on Lincoln's early life recently and some of them may (or may not) provide a better narrative, but I think none can match the level of effort Kigel has put into this volume.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming Abraham Lincoln: The Coming of Age of Our Greatest President is a biographical sketch of Lincoln's life from birth until age 25 when he was elected to the Illinois state legislature. Richard Kigel primarily uses original source material collected by Lincoln's former law partner, Billy Herndon, collected after the President's death. The book is written in a readable, simple style. I read somewhere that the book was geared toward students and I believe the author is a schoolteacher. The book seems to follow along with that and school-age historians may find this of most interest.

An interesting new addition to the volumes of information on Lincoln, but I'm not sure there is much here that hasn't been covered before. However, the focus on Lincoln's early life is new.

Full disclosure: I won a copy of an advance reader copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Beth Neu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read several biographies of Abraham Lincoln, but this book comes from a little different angle, in that it focuses on the first 25 years of his life. I really enjoyed learning about his parents and their early years as well as Abraham's formative years. Most of the research for this book was actually conducted by his law partner, William Herndon, who interviewed people who knew Lincoln shortly after his death. I learned some new things about his early years by reading this book, including quotes from his cousin, Dennis Hanks, who lived with Lincoln during most of his years in Indiana and also moved to be near-by in Illinois when the Lincoln family moved there. We often hear of Lincoln's work ethic and his love of reading, but this book gives us more insight into his sense of humor, love of playing pranks and his physical strength that helped him defend himself and others.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very easy to get into book about the early years of one of my favorite people of all time!!! There was definitely a lot about his growing up years that I didn't know as well as some of the circumstances that shaped his character and who he would become. Anyone who wants to become something more need only follow his example and live life with the same integrity that Lincoln always showed. He was a complex and complicated personality and rose to the circumstances he had to deal with more admirably than most of us would. He is to me endlessly fascinating and I could read countless volumes on him. Recommend to anyone who wants more info on this great man. Well done Richard Kigel !!!!

[Mike Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly short book and as promised, it ends abruptly when Lincoln enters politics in Illinois. The anecdotes, old interviews, and writings from those who knew Lincoln were both fun and fascinating. I learned a lot about his early life although I've read quite a lot about him. To me, if you're interested in our greatest president then you should read this book. That old question about who you'd love to have a long dinner with (though I'd prefer a long walk in the hills with Lincoln [if I could keep up]) one of those people would be Abe Lincoln. One theme throughout is what a raconteur he was. There's nothing much more enjoyable than listening to a smart country person spinning tales.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this book 4 stars because Lincoln, along with Charles Darwin, I regard as the two most important persons who every lived. My making this note is because the material in the book is not too exciting to say the least. I have read many biographies of Lincoln and this is a whole big book about history that is covered in those biographies in just a few sentences.
For those who simply love Lincoln, however, the contents of this book about his youth are just very important, making clear how incredible it is that he rose to be our greatest president from such a penniless, deprived beginning.
So if you are not such a Lincoln fan, this is just a 2 or 3 star book.

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming Abraham Lincoln is an interesting angle, focusing on Lincoln's early years, bolstered largely by quotes from William Herndon's research shortly after the assassination. While entertaining to read, the book really doesn't add information that is unique or new to the canon of scholarship about Lincoln. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Gail M. Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I lived in Illinois until I was 50 years old. I visited New Salem and Springfield many times. I thought I knew quite a bit about Lincoln, but this book revealed much I did not know. Very interesting read.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A hagiography written by an exalted. Greatest. And Our. And Becoming. Puhlease!

[Jim Swike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knew somethings mentioned, but overall a great read about young Abraham Lincoln. Great details of his early life. Enjoy!

[Terry Tracz · Rating 4 out of 5]

With quotes from Lincoln’s cousin Dennis Hanks and other relatives who knew him as a youngster, it was a treat to learn about the more mischievous side of our honorable 16th President.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable reading. First time reading anything on the early years of one of America's greatest presidents. I now feel like I know the man!

[Heather]

This is a wonderful look into Lincoln's early years. I really enjoyed the information from his partner and finding out how humorous and fun Abe was.

This book would be especially good in a school library to give students information about the president's formative years. I am looking forward to sharing it with my students.

*Thank you to Richard Kigel, Skyhorse Publishing and Netgalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Nick Vulich]

An excellent book told mostly in the words of Lincoln's contemporaries. I would highly recommend it.

[William S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful summary of Lincoln's early years--to age 25. Highly recommended to fans of Abe.