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Laddar... Personal traits of Abraham Lincolnav Helen Nicolay
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Gå med i LibraryThing för att få reda på om du skulle tycka om den här boken. Det finns inga diskussioner på LibraryThing om den här boken. This book attempts to show what kind of a man Lincoln was by giving examples of his life that supports a particular chapter 'topic', such as 'His Forgiving Spirit'. For someone who has not read much about Lincoln, this book would be very interesting. However, there is really nothing new in here. Despite the author's potential access to information from her father (John Nicolay) that might not have been published before, the author instead uses stories that have been told in virtually every Lincoln biography ever written. I was really looking forward to reading this, but was sorely disappointed. inga recensioner | lägg till en recension
An intimate look at the personal character and personality traits of one of America's most respected men. Included are Lincoln's attitude and actions regarding handling of money, work, those in authority, forgiveness, opponents, discipline of colleagues, wife and children, and humility in the use of great public power. The observer and commentator is really the author's father, who over a five-year period, worked hand-in-glove with not only the president, but also the Lincoln family, and who was able to observe Lincoln in nearly all circumstances, social and political. This is a work of "extraordinary insight" into a great man. Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
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Google Books — Laddar... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)973.7History and Geography North America United States Administration of Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865 Civil WarKlassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg:
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Helen Nicolay was the daughter of John G. Nicolay, one of Lincoln’s two main secretaries along with John Hay. In 1890 the two men published a ten-volume biography, “Abraham Lincoln: A History,” but omitted many of the personal details of Lincoln’s life. They had intended, at some future time, to write a smaller, more intimate biography. To that end, they had collected many notes, letters, newspaper clippings, and anecdotes in an envelope marked “Personal Traits.” The intimate volume never got published, and so Nicolay’s daughter Helen undertook that task herself.
The “personal traits” described in this book will be familiar to anyone who has read even one or two Lincoln biographies. There is no new information in Nicolay, but that’s not an entirely fair assessment: she, after all, came very much before our modern sources. A more reasonable criticism might be that the book is quite hagiographic, and moreover, doesn’t cover the full gamut of Lincoln’s interactions that might shed light on his personality.
In the seminal biographies by David Herbert Donald and by Benjamin P. Thomas, for example, we learn about the coldness of Lincoln’s father, about his bouts of melancholia, about his failed romance with Ann Rutledge, and about his courting of Mary Todd. In Doris Kearns Goodwin we reach a deeper understanding of his interactions with his “team of rivals.” Other books cover his personal relationships with his longtime friends, and with his Civil War Generals. And there are many books specifically on Lincoln’s marriage, about which there is no information whatsoever in “Personal Traits.”
There is in short, no real reason to read this book. The material in it has been totally covered and superseded by more comprehensive works by later historians. It should be acknowledged, however, as a resource for later books to come. ( )