Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer
 | By Fred Kaplan Harper, 2008, Hardcover |
|---|
For Abraham Lincoln, whether he was composing love letters, speeches, or legal arguments, words mattered. In Lincoln, acclaimed biographer Fred Kaplan explores the life of America's sixteenth president through his use of language as a vehicle both to express complex ideas and feelings and as an instrument of persuasion and empowerment. Like the other great canonical writers of American literature—a status he is gradually attaining—Lincoln had a literary career that is inseparable from his life story. An admirer and avid reader of Burns, Byron, Shakespeare, and the Old Testament, Lincoln was the most literary of our presidents. His views on love, liberty, and human nature were shaped by his reading and knowledge of literature.
Since Lincoln, no president has written his own words and addressed his audience with equal and enduring effectiveness. Kaplan focuses on the elements that shaped Lincoln's mental and imaginative world; how his writings molded his identity, relationships, and career; and how they simultaneously generated both the distinctive political figure he became and the public discourse of the nation. This unique account of Lincoln's life and career highlights the shortcomings of the modern presidency, reminding us, through Lincoln's legacy and appreciation for language, that the careful and honest use of words is a necessity for successful democracy.
Illuminating and engrossing, Lincoln brilliantly chronicles Abraham Lincoln's genius with language.
Title: Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer
Sales Rank: 1477 in Books
Author: Fred Kaplan
Publisher: Harper, 2008-11-01, Hardcover, 416 pages, ISBN: 0060773340
Package Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches, 1.6 pounds
- Alluring title, fair insight, but somehow flat
- Perhaps I was unable to overcome page five. That's where the author says Lincoln was born on February 9th. From there on, skpeticism was never very far away. … More reviews
- Kaplan's Lincoln
- I found this book by Professor Kaplan to be interesting at times, but as a whole, unsatisfactory. Information provided on the young Lincoln's early reading and writing is good. However, the author finds it necessary to go into some detail about aspects of Mr. Lincoln's life that have little to do with his writing (for example, Mary Lincoln's temperament and a later episode involving an Indian uprising… More reviews
- One of two presidents who liked to read
- Another book about Lincoln?
Yes! And a great book. From his love letters to the Gettysburg and second inaugural addresses, Lincoln was a master of putting great ideas into succinct words. In contrast to recent presidents, who are "too busy" to read much of anything, Lincoln and John Quincy Adams are the only presidents for whom literature… More reviews
