The Abraham Lincoln Book Tag (original)
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- Good morning BookTube! I have an original tag for you. This is The Abraham Lincoln Book Tag. I look forward to seeing what books you choose for your version of the tag. I am always looking for more Lincoln recommendations. Thank you to Paul Salley for creating the questions and requesting the video. Here you go Paul!! Thank all of you for watching. Have a great week. HAPPY READING!!!
I Tag:
Steve Donoghue - @saintdonoghue
Peg @ the History Shelf - @TheHistoryShelf
The Abraham Lincoln Book Tag
Questions/Prompts:
1: What was your first book about Abraham Lincoln?
2: What book really sparked your interest to learn more about Abe’s life?
3: What is the best book about Abe’s childhood/early life (up until he goes into politics)
4: What book does the best at highlighting Abe’s personality?
5: What is the best political (pre Civil War and Civil War era) book?
6: What is a book or two that you bought during a trip to a Lincoln site (AL museum, home, Washington DC etc)?
7: What is the best book that showcases Lincoln’s military strategy as commander in chief?
8: What is the best book if somebody wants to learn about Lincoln’s family? (Mary Todd, Robert etc)
9: What is your favorite Lincoln book that details a year in the life of Abe? (Such as a book about his final months as President etc)
10: What is your go to book/books about the Lincoln assassination and the events surrounding it? (Booth, Fords Theatre, the Conspirators/aftermath etc)
11: What is your favorite miscellaneous book about Lincoln? (A book that doesn’t seem to fit into any one category)
12: What is a fun story you have relating to the purchase of an Abraham Lincoln book?
13: What would you consider to be your holy grail of Abe Lincoln books?
14: What are your top 5 Abraham Lincoln books?
15: If you had to recommend one book to somebody who is interested into reading about his life, what book would it be and why?
Quite a good collection on Abe, "get right with Lincoln," in the sense of conscience, your Landmark books are nice for the youngsters of all ages too.
Thank you. I am quite proud of the collection over all. It always has room for improvement which is why I am always buying more. As a matter of fact, I bought a handful yesterday, LOL. I will soon be doing a video over new Lincoln books that I have bought. Lincoln is interesting because I feel he was an evolving mindset as he got older. I think a lot of his views changed as he experienced new things in life. That makes him quite unique compared to other politicians, especially politicians of today's world who are extremely dug-in in their view points and not willing to change or compromise.
Thank you for watching. Have a great weekend.
With the exception of O'Reilly and Goodwin, I have the books you talked about. I too admire Lincoln and that's thanks to Gore Vidal. His "Lincoln" not only got me interested in Lincoln, but in American history. My Lincoln library isn't as extensive as yours, but I do have about 20 books on the man including his complete writings. In 2006 I met Vidal and spend about an hour talking with him. Before I left I asked him to sign my copy of Lincoln, shook his hand, and told him he had been the best teacher I'd ever had. Given his strong opinions about U.S. education I think he liked the compliment.
I have the Gore Vidal book but I haven't read it yet. I will have to remedy that. I have heard a lot of people talk about his books. You can get by without the O'Reilly book but I would highly recommend the Goodwin book. Team of Rivals was a tremendous read. Glad to hear about your collection! Keep up the good work!
So glad you mentioned Prelude to Greatness. There is not a better book on Lincoln's political rise between 1854 and 1860.
I totally agree!!! I wish it got more of the limelight ... but I understand with the constant publishing of newer works. It's hard for a book to stay at the front of the line.
Thank you for watching. Have a great weekend.
Regarding your Mexican American War request, I just finished Amy Greenberg's "A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 US Invasion of Mexico." Highly recommend. Fast paced, comprehensive, and a great introduction to the war. Plus, it includes the events thru our guy Lincoln.
Thank you so much for the recommendation. I will have to go looking for that one! It is such a fascinating time period.
Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend.
New to the channel love what you do. Keep it going. Also, I thank you for what you do as a teacher of the young. Also, a huge history buff! Just wanted to give you a quick comment.
Thank you so much for your kind words Michael. Sorry about the delay in answering the comments, it's been very very busy here in my house. I do appreciate what you said. I do love teaching the kids and the BookTube is always a blast. Thanks you for watching. Have a great weekend.
Hi Bill, really great presentation on Lincoln. I made some comments yesterday but accidentally posted them as a reply to one of your other viewers comments instead of directly to you. Sorry about that! Hope you can find my comments in the replies! Besides other books I mentioned, the biography of Lincoln by the English statesman Lord Charnwood, despite being over a century old, is still worth reading for its insights and literary quality. Having the perspective of a non-American, but also a politician, enhances it. And the fact that Charnwood clearly recognizes that slavery was a betrayal of the principles on which the U.S. was founded, was the root cause of the Civil War, and was strongly opposed by Lincoln even as he recognized constitutional and other limitations on what could be done about it, sets him apart from so many American historians of his day and for years thereafter, who seemed to be in denial on these matters.
Thanks for the recommendation Ricky! Always good to hear from you. I have that book on my list of books to buy, but haven't gotten it yet. I will push it up the ladder. I am going through the comments now. I will find the others. As always, thanks for leaving comments. I do truly appreciate it. Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend.
This was fascinating! Thanks for sharing a few of the books in your Lincoln collection! My holds list at the library just grew by about six titles. When I was a kid I read a middle grade or younger biography about Lincoln called something like The Man from Springfield. Lost it along the way but it was a memorable read.
Thanks. It was a fun video to put together. I really love my Lincoln collection. Glad I could help you with your TBR. I will have to look for The Man From Springfield. I am not sure if I have read it. Thanks for mentioning it.
Thank you for watching. Have a great week.
I loved seeing all these books and hearing you talk about them. I have that first photo album that you have - or had, as I can’t determine where I filed it - but don’t have or haven’t read many about Lincoln. I think _Lawyer Lincoln_ stands out (I forget the author); and I have the Wills which I’ve read but I can’t claim cover-to-cover. At the Lincoln Library in Springfield I picked up Elizabeth Keckley’s book and loved that.
I love the multi-CD set of the debates, Richard Dreyfuss and David Strathairn are great.
Hey, Bill, you could make this video twice as long if you’re talking about Lincoln and I’m glad to listen. 🎩
Thanks David! I appreciate your kind comments ... if I could just get my wife to be as enthusiastic about my love of Lincoln! I am kidding, she is a good woman. She even approved of stopping in Springfield on the way home from vacation several years ago to eat lunch in the cemetery where Lincoln is buried. I thought that was pretty cool. I need to check into the CD set that you mentioned. That sounds great! Thanks for watching. Have a great week.
I haven’t read much about Lincoln. I am started my Lincoln book buying. I have so far gotten Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. Abraham Lincoln by Carl Sandburg. I have the team of rivals. Lincoln as I knew him by Harold holzer. With malice towards none, a life of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B Oates. I am trying to get books in the presidents to read. Some great books I definitely want to check out.
Thanks Vickie. Which book will you read first?? I am doing a buddy read in September over Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. I just bought a copy of Lincoln as I Knew Him yesterday while I was out and about. He is a fascinating subject to read about. Very multidimensional and a lot of rabbit holes to go down. Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend.
@@billruttenberg the Carl Sandburg one I will probably read first based on your review. It will be my first read on Lincoln. I have books about the civil war whereof course he’s mentioned and books about grant but never a book just about him.
@@user-iz6cc6lz3j-Vickie Well, I hope that you enjoy it. Be sure to get back to me and let me know what you think of it. It is definitely pro-Lincoln. I thought it was great ... but then again, I am a huge Lincoln fan.
Nice video; it's always fun to hear someone discuss a favorite subject. Afraid I'm not in the mood to humiliate myself and my ancestors by recording a video, but I'll play along here in the comments. Confession: I have NOT read all of these in full, so I'm a ginormous cheater. Oh, and I apologize for any repeats; I possess but a fraction of your
Lincoln mojo. 😁
1. Excluding some vaguely recalled stuff for REALLY young kids, probably the "Story of Abraham Lincoln" Signature Book.
2. Eh, same answer?
3. Not a perfect fit, but "The Young Eagle" by Kenneth Winkle
4. "Lincoln in Private" by Ronald White
5. "Crisis of the House Divided" by Harry Jaffa
6. I can't recall any.
7. "Tried by War" by James McPherson
8. "Giant in the Shadows" by Jason Emerson (about Robert)
9. "1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History" by Charles Flood
10. "American Brutus" by Michael Kauffman
11. "Lincoln and Native Americans" by Michael Green
12. Uh ... I did once ask if they had any Lincoln swag for sale at the Jefferson Davis home in Biloxi, Mississippi, because I felt like embarrassing my companion that day. Not sure if that counts since no Lincoln swag was actually purchased.
13. Probably the two volume Burlingame biography.
14. Eh, I'm not good with these lists.
15. I would recommend "Lincoln's Melancholy" because it can really humanize the man for folks who grew up bombarded by a lot of mythologized nonsense in school like I did. Heh, let's give a big huzzah for extremely rural Illinois public schools at the waning of the 20th Century! 🤘🤪
Great answers Bryan. Thank you for some more ideas for Lincoln books. I am taking a screen shot for future reference. I do like your sense of humor in #12, LOL. Thanks for watching. Have a great week.
Thanks for the great video! You have added quite a few books to my TBR list. I have a couple recommendations for you regarding the War of 1812. Both of them are by one of my favorite historians, Alan Taylor. The first book is really more about slavery in Virginia, but the centerpiece of the narrative is the War of 1812. It is fascinating on how the British took advantage of the white people's fear of slavery uprisings and the disaffection of the slaves. The book is called The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia 1772 - 1822. I read it earlier this year and this has been my favorite read of the year so far. The other book is called The Civil War of 1812, American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels and Indian Allies. The book is sweeping in its coverage of the different forces that played a role in the War of 1812. It concentrates more on the campaigns in the north. Both books have made me a big fan of Alan Taylor who has written quite a bit about Colonial America and the Revolutionary era.
Thank you so much for the recommendations! I took a screen shot so I won't forget the book titles. That will help with the video and with my personal learning. Alan Taylor is excellent. I read his book on the Colonies last summer and loved it. Good stuff. Thanks for watching. Have a great week.
@@billruttenberg I just wanted to let you know I have been watching your postings for a couple years. I read quite a bit and history is one of my main interests. It is very rare to see people who post primarily about history and I always find your videos really interesting. My interests in history cover a fairly wide swath. American history almost any era with a particular interest in the Revolutionary and early Republic, slavery and the African American experience, The Civil War and Reconstruction, WWI, WWIi, the Cold War Years. I also love English history Please continue to post!!
@@billyd10 Thank you so much for your kind words. I truly love to read and learn about history. It is a passion of mine. I do appreciate your following the channel. It is always good to make friends out in BookTube land. And it is always great to see a fellow history buff! The Revolutionary Period is another fascinating era in our country's history. Do you have any other favorite authors??
Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend.
Do you happen to have Abraham Lincoln: 1809-1858 by Albert J. Beveridge? It, for me, is truly the best muti-volume series on LIncoln; it might be better than the Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years by Carl Sandburg. It comes in 2 volumes but also In 4 volumes.
Beveridge's biographies are excellent. I was fortunate to find copies in the 90's. Excellent resources. Beveridge's 4 volume set of John Marshall are also excellent and frankly, the best education one can get about the founding of the country.
I don't have it, but I want it. It is on my list of Lincoln books to get. I just haven't come across it at the used book store. It may be one that I have to break down and buy it online. Thanks for the recommendation. Thanks for watching. Have a great week.
@@LibroParadiso-ep4zt I didn't know he wrote one on Marshall, too. That is good to know. That will have to be added to the list as well. Thanks for watching. Have a great week.
It is very unfortunate that Beveridge died before he could complete his series on Lincoln. I feel like Lincoln and the way we look at him would be much different if Beveridge got to his presidency.
I second the recommendation for "Manhunt." It's very exciting reading, as if it were happening moment-by-moment in front of you. Even though you know how it will end, seeing each step creates a feeling of suspense.
I'm not a teacher or a historian, so I don't have a Lincoln library, but I am fascinated by him as a person and his extraordinary life. I do have some of the books you mentioned: Team of Rivals, Lincoln's Melancholy, Hour of Peril, Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination and the Jim Bishop book.
Besides those, I also have "Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln" by Edward Achorn; "Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President" by Kathryn Canavan; "Lincoln's Bishop: A President, a Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors" by Gustav Niebuhr; "Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency" by Dan Abrams; 'The Psychic Life of Abraham Lincoln" by Susan B. Martinez (definitely to be taken with more than a grain of salt but it does discuss those prophetic dreams among other out-of- the -ordinary occurrences); "Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859 -- 1865;" "Lincoln and Shakespeare" by Michael Anderegg; "And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle" by Jon Meachum.
I also have "Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four in the White House" by Elizabeth Keckley.
Thank you for the long list of new books on Lincoln to look for. I have heard of some of them, but not all. There are SOOO many out there. You could build an entire building to house nothing but Lincoln if you wanted ... hmm, maybe an idea for retirement ...
Thanks for watching. Have a great week.
Thrilled that you do did this tag on Lincoln as he is a favorite subject of mine too. You had a lot of great recommendations. Any books on Lincoln by Burlingame, Guelzo, McPherson, Holzer and Ronald White are definitely worth reading. Here are some of my answers to the questions you posed:
1. First book on Lincoln I read: Lincoln: His Working and His World, given to me by a family friend in about sixth grade. They got it as a gift for making a donation to Disabled American Veterans. Originally published by Country Beautiful magazine in the 1960s it's mainly quotations from Lincoln with lots of illustrations.
Lincoln's early life: Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln by Douglas L. Wilson
Lincoln's personality: The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln by Michael Burlingame
Lincoln as war President: Agree with you that McPherson's Tried by War is the best, though the older book Lincoln and His Generals by T. Harry Williams is also very insightful and enjoyable to read. Would also recommend a volume of essays by leading scholars edited by Gabor S. Borritt called Lincoln's Generals.
Lincoln's family: The recent book by Burlingame, An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd, though many people find it too harsh on Mary. Also any of the books by Jason Emerson, including his biography of Robert Lincoln as well as The Madness of Mary Lincoln, are very good.
Lincoln's assassination: Any of the books by Edward Steers, Jr., especially Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Also William Hanchett, The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies, which skillfully dissects many of the conspiracy theories, and Harold Holzer's President Lincoln Assassinated!, a volume in the Library of America that contains primary sources. Also, the biography of John Wilkes Booth by Terry Alford called Fortune's Fool. And Mourning Lincoln by Martha Hodes that analyzes how Lincoln was mourned, or in some cases, wasn't.
Specific periods in Lincoln's life: I agree that Holzer's book on Lincoln as president -elect is excellent, but I found Ted Widmer's Lincoln on the Verge, which focuses even more narrowly on the journey to Washington, to be a great read and contains interesting details not found elsewhere. Edward Achorn's Every Drop of Blood, on the second inauguration , is also very good and a good companion to White's book on the Second Inaugural Address. I'm looking forward to reading Achorn's more recent book on the 1860 Republican convention.
Specialized study on Lincoln: I found Jonathan W. White's recent book, which shared the Lincoln Prize with Meacham's book, A House Built by Slaves: African Americans in the Lincoln White House, to be fascinating and full of fresh information. I would also recommend the volume edited by White, To Address You as My Friend, a collection of all the letters known to have been written to Lincoln by African Americans, as a great companion volume.
"Holy Grail" Lincoln Books: I would have to say Burlingame 's two volume biography because it has to be the most detailed and meticulously researched Lincoln biography ever written but it is still written in a readable style. Though I have the print version, I prefer the online one that is available for download as it is even more detailed and documented. (Yes, I know, I can be a real geek about such things.). I have bought by not read yet the one volume version (still 750 pages) of Burlingame edited by Jonathan White. But I would also recommend the brief volume Burlingame wrote for the Concise Lincoln Library published by Southern Illinois University Press called Lincoln and the Civil War. In less than 200 pages, Burlingame does a great job of explaining why Lincoln was the North's "secret weapon" in winning the war
Books to recommend to readers new to Lincoln: I agree with you that it depends on the age and the level of knowledge regardless of age. I also agree that Meacham's book would a good beginning because of its appealing style. I haven't read the book by McGovern. Mark E. Neely's The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln ahd Promise of America is a good brief introduction by a leading Lincoln scholar. I would also recommend his The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties. And his Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia is a good reference but needs to be updated to include more recent research. The Illustrated biography by the Kunhardt's is also a good introduction. I would also mention a recent biography that I think has been overlooked, Richard Striner's Summoned to Glory: The Audacious Life of Abraham Lincoln which not only provides a good overview of Lincoln's but I think makes a good case Lincoln was not as passive, especially on slavery, as some previous historians have maintained.
The title of that first book I read on Lincoln is Lincoln: His Words and His World. I should add that the biography by Ronald C. White, Jr. called A. Lincoln: A Biography is quite good. It's more detailed and more insightful, I believe, than Meacham's, but still very readable and not nearly so long or potentially overwhelming as Burlingame's. White's more recent book Lincoln in Private, about Lincoln's private memoranda, is very insightful as well. Team of Rivals is a classic which I greatly enjoy. Richard Current's The Lincoln Nobody Knows is an older book that I would recommend as presenting leser known aspects of Lincoln's character.
I just got the Elizabeth Keckley book yesterday!!! I am very excited to read it. Found it at one of my local bookshops that I frequently shop in.
@@rickynewport6339 Well, Ricky, you have read a ton of Lincoln books. I gave you the ultimate compliment ... I screen shot the post and I am making a TBR list based on your recommendations! Thanks. I have read several of them, but you also added quite a few. (LOL, man, I just told myself yesterday that I needed to back off my book acquisitions ... well that lasted all of 12 hours!)