Reviews for The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now

The average rating for The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-25 00:00:00 Andrew Galindo Pro: This book is over 900 pages about Abraham Lincoln, starting from the time before his candidacy until modern day. There is a lot of great information and reflections on both Lincoln's personal and professional life. Con: Did I mention it was 900 pages about Abraham Lincoln? After that many pages, I started to get tired of the man. This was especially true since the vast majority of the sources are exclaiming how great he was. The problems, however, was I did not feel that I got a well-rounded view of Lincoln. Personally, I would have preferred some more sources critical of Lincoln's policy, especially during the Civil War. How did Southerners feel about him? How about non-Republican Northerners? There are tantalizing references scattered about Lincoln being a racist, or politicians accusing him of removing habeus corpus. Unfortunately, there is only two voices critical of Lincoln (both non-White. coincidence?) and no essays about him suspending habeus corpus. Which brings me to the other glaring omission. Just under 75% of the voices in the book are White, Christian Men. Of the 109 essays, 7 are by women, 10 are by non-White authors, and 11 are non-Christian authors. I would have loved to have seen other voices talking about Lincoln, not just the occasional African-American voice or foreign student (Donggill Kim). How was Lincoln perceived by British politicians during the Civil War? How about other African Americans than Frederick Douglas? How about Jews? These voices would have helped give a more comprehensive view of the President. Overall: 109 essays on Lincoln is bound to give someone a variety of views. The book is obviously meant to bolster Lincoln's image. Unfortunately, this means that the book is tilted toward voices kind or reverent toward Lincoln, at the cost of a more rounded view of a great President. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-05-04 00:00:00 Richard Jones This collection of 110 pieces of historical accounts, biographical sketches, critical analyses, fiction and poetry, arranged chronologically, stands at a daunting 964 pages. What could have been a weary academic slog turned out to be an almost entirely engaging and interesting journey through a diverse range of views of Lincoln from 1860, with the work of his contemporaries, to the dedication speech of the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum by then U. S. Senator Barack Obama in 2005. What emerges is a mosaic; a complex array, including occasionally contradictory images, of an American who is now almost universally revered as wholly virtuous and peerless. Among the many intriguing threads and themes that I found the most captivating were: the pervasive elements of his beginnings with deprivation and suffering, extreme physical toil, extraordinary adversity and overwhelming odds against his becoming educated and assiduous life-long pursuit of knowledge; the criticisms of him as a reluctant abolitionist and emancipator as well as his profound intellect, open minded flexibility, keen insight that were all wrapped in humility and good humor. I highly recommend it to not just fans of American history and the Civil War era but also anyone interested in psychology, social and societal change and weighing different perspectives and opinions (something in short supply but in dire need today).