This extraordinary, prize-winning biography of Abraham Lincoln by one of the most highly regarded historians on the subject examines Lincoln both as a rising politician and as president.
Beautifully written and full of compelling insights and fresh perspective, Lincoln promises to be one of the most important and lively political biographies in some time. Originally published in Carwardine’s native England, Lincoln won Gettysburg College’s prestigious Lincoln Prize in 2004.
Some readers may find Lincoln tedious and poorly organized. Rather than writing a traditional chronological biography, Oxford historian Carwardine lays out hundreds of facts about Lincoln's public career with scant continuity or artistry. The author suffers from an addiction to unhelpful adverbs: " . . . to coincide more or less precisely with . . ." For Lincoln's many quotes, narrator Dick Hill chooses a comedic voice that makes the great Illinois orator sound like an ignorant hillbilly. Hill portrays Stephen A. Douglas, a native of Vermont, with a German accent that sounds comic. The liberties constitute no small crime because the narrator contradicts the author's descriptions of the men's voices. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
...
One might think that a history of Lincoln's mind wouldn't be much different from the history of his life, but in narrative terms the distinction makes a world of difference. Carwardine's magisterial history of Lincoln's thinking on politics, religion, race, the Constitution, and a dozen other topics follows the chronology of his life but is a study, rather than an account of time, place, and events. Whereas a print reader might pause to reflect, in audio it is narrator Stefan Rudnicki's task to maintain the pace and rhythm of the whole. That he does so while staying true to the meditative character of the text is a measure of his impressive skill and discipline. For those who know Lincoln's biography already, this is a book that unlocks many puzzles and seeming contradictions in his record. D.A.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Richard Carwardine is a Rhodes Professor of American History at Oxford University and is the first British scholar to be awarded the Lincoln Prize, the largest award in America for nineteenth-century American history. He lives in Oxford.
Digital Rights Information
OverDrive WMA Audiobook
Burn to CD:
Permitted
Transfer to device:
Permitted
Transfer to Apple® device:
Permitted
Public performance:
Not permitted
File-sharing:
Not permitted
Peer-to-peer usage:
Not permitted
All copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.
...
