Good Books About Lincoln

Lincoln is a popular topic among my readers, so I thought I’d list my favorite books about him.

At the same time, I am eager to hear about your favorite Lincoln books.

My favorites are, in no order:

Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings, ed. by Roy P. Basler. This anthology contains everything by Lincoln that is of real importance. Basler helpfully explains the context of each selection, and also includes in this volume his essay on “Lincoln’s Development as a Writer.” What I found most surprising about this book is the unfailing seriousness of Lincoln in his writings. The storyteller and humorist are not in evidence here — just a formidably intelligent man who was wholly intent on achieving something distinguished.

Abraham Lincoln: A Life, by Michael Burlingame. The two hefty volumes of this biography, published in 2008, run to almost 2000 pages. The story is familiar, but Burlingame makes it all seem new by providing new detail. He did a prodigious amount of original research. For example, everyone knows that Lincoln grew up poor. What wasn’t made clear to us before is that the Lincolns were the poorest of the poor, scorned by other poor people for their shiftlessness and lack of self respect. Lincoln’s rise in life becomes all the more remarkable. This biography is for me an immense bowl of salted peanuts.

Abraham Lincoln, by Lord Charnwood (Baron Godfrey Rathbone Benson). This biography, which was published in 1917, is in my opinion the best written biography of Lincoln, and in many ways the most profound. Charnwood had a true feeling for America and the Lincoln era that would be remarkable in any foreigner. He knew Henry James and had long talks with him about Lincoln and the Civil War in preparation to write this book. What James told him no doubt accounts for Charnwood’s ability to get so many things right.

Any Lincoln books by James G. Randall. When I read Randall’s books, I find myself arguing with him all the time. I do not think that the Lincoln Douglas debates were about nothing. I do not think that the cause of the Civil War was the ineptitude of the political leaders of that era, North and South. Randall believes these things and supports his beliefs with massive, expertly marshalled scholarship. To argue with him, you need to marshall your own scholarship pretty damn well.

The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now, edited by Harold Holzer. This wonderful anthology is full of surprises, such as interesting writings about Lincoln by Bram Stoker and Delmore Schwartz. It also includes indispensable essays, such as the studies of Lincoln the writer by Jacques Barzun and Marianne Moore.

The Cooper Union Address performed by Sam Waterston at Cooper Union. On May 5, 2004, Sam Waterston delivered Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address entire, at the place where Lincoln delivered it in 1860. In this speech, Lincoln defended his belief that the authors of the Constitution intended for Congress to have the power to exclude slavery from the territories and from states formed out of territories. To establish his point, Lincoln marshaled a large amount of historical detail and legal history, buttressed my logical and moral reasoning. The speech is easy to follow, and when you listen to Sam Waterston’s performance of it, you experience how it won for Lincoln the presidential nomination of the Republican Party later that year.