Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years

Rating:
Summary: Not the gold standard but an excellent start
Review: More books are published about Lincon than any other public figure and Carl Sandburg's take on America's 16th president is a good place to start your learning on this extraordinary individual. Sandburg's style shows his roots as a poet; the writing is lyrical and captivating. Though it leans towards myth-making, Sandburg doesn't leave out Lincoln's flaws. Other biographies go deeper into Lincoln's psyche or touch on specific chapters from Lincoln's life; however this book is a good start to begin your education on Abraham Lincoln. Find the complete six-volume set if you can. It does a much better job of putting Lincoln's life into the historical context of the 1800s than this abridged volume does.

Rating:
Summary: Not the gold standard but an excellent start
Review: More books are published about Lincon than any other public figure and Carl Sandburg's take on America's 16th president is a good place to start your learning on this extraordinary individual. Sandburg's style shows his roots as a poet; the writing is lyrical and captivating. Though it leans towards myth-making, Sandburg doesn't leave out Lincoln's flaws. Other biographies go deeper into Lincoln's psyche or touch on specific chapters from Lincoln's life; however this book is a good start to begin your education on Abraham Lincoln. Find the complete six-volume set if you can. It does a much better job of putting Lincoln's life into the historical context of the 1800s than this abridged volume does.

Rating:
Summary: In my opinion, the best Lincoln biography...
Review: While Abraham Lincoln is among the most accessible characters in American history, no author has yet equaled Sandburg's triumphant chronicle of Lincoln. Artfully written, engaging, and thoroughly researched, the book is perhaps the most entertaining of all American presidential biographies. Sandburg's mastery of prose yields a coherent, effortlessly read text that develops more dramatically than might be expected from a biography, consistently retaining the reader's interest. Though some may claim that Sandburg's multi-volume account of the life of Lincoln surpasses the one-volume edition, for most readers, this edition is sufficiently thorough. I found it a pleasure to read and reread.