James C. Humes (1934–2020)

A very selective group of quotes and anecdotes about the 16th president; every quote appeared to be selected to support the political view of the author, who also included a lot of anecdotes about the late president that he collected entirely from secondary sources; his bibliography does not list a single primary source, which probably explains some of the anecdotes, almost certainly apocryphal. There is very little reason to believe that many of these anecdotes are true; they are the show more legends that spring up around great men, and some of them are in the "too good to be true" category. Also present are the "too strange to be true" and, interestingly, "too banal to be true". The quotes contain some good stuff, but also some questionable things that seem to have sprung up later and been attributed to Lincoln. The anecdotes are focused mostly on asserting the true extent of his conservative values, demonstrating him as an evangelical Christian (highly doubtful) and establishing him as a mystic, or perhaps a better word would be psychic, which showed in the collection of anecdotes rather than in any of the commentary by the author himself. In short, it falls very short of the solid, objective work it pretends to be. show less

I felt I needed a distracting read that didn't take too much brainpower and this certainly fit the bill. Mr. Humes has a lengthy CV, but is a tad myopic in his adorations...the "Great Communicator" {snort} Reagan (Humes wrote for him, Eisenhower, Nixon, ...), but more Churchill (Humes authored a biography...) than anything. Count half of this as having value, less for experienced speakers, slightly more for inexperienced. A few nuggets are good advice, but most of this is just extraneous show more stories to fluff out his list. show less

The author claims that Lincoln employed no speechwriter. This is literally true, although it reflects a depreciation of his Cabinet and Staff, which Lincoln himself did not hold. William Seward (his secretary of State) assisted with most of his Presidential addresses--including the "guardian angels" which Lincoln turned into "the better angels of our nature". William Herndon (his Springfield law partner) recorded a speech by Theodore Parker (Unitarian abolitionist) he gave to Lincoln, show more containing the phrase "government by all the people, for all the people". [119]

As an attorney, Lincoln consciously abjured forms of "eloquence" that jurors would find confusing. His lack of formal eduction may have directed this choice. For all the help current politicians get, the fact remains that Lincoln's words remain the most lucid, coherent , and gracious of any leader in public office.

This work by a skeptical but avowed "Lincoln buff' [84], includes all of the addresses, many of the anecdotes, gems from Gettysburg and Lincoln's colleagues, secrets of the assassination, adages and lore. Also, a Time Line juxtaposing events in Lincoln's life with the world, and an excellent Index. show less

Interesting overview of some of the ways President Nixon worked and believed. Quite a pragmatist! Enjoyed the history and examples given. Found Humes to be a good writer.