Matthew Pinsker

The Soldier's Home was to serve as a retreat for Lincoln and his family. It was intended to be a place where Mr. Lincoln and his family could get away from the hectic life of Washington and the White House. But was it? Did the Soldiers home have such and impact on the President that it could influence national policy?
Matthew Pinsker in his work "Lincoln's Sanctuary" gives us the forgotten side of the presidential family and the home that served them as a refuge from the summer months of show more Washington. Pinsker begins his work in the Introduction by explaining Lincoln’s need to get away. Quotes from Walt Whitman, and soldiers who were close to the President exemplify the wear and tear of daily life that was taking its toll on Mr. Lincoln. The following chapters are broken down into three parts: Part One covers the year 1862, Part Two 1863, and Part Three 1864. The chapters touch on the events that were taking place both nationally and in President Lincoln’s personal life during the times he was living in the Soldiers Home. Mr. Pinsker intertwines the effects that the Soldiers Home had upon Lincoln and the potential affect it may have had on him and his decision making.
This is a very well written and well researched work. This book is very easy to read and understand. It is a wonderfully chosen topic on a place that, though was important to Lincoln and his family, seems to have lost its significance over the course of time. Mr. Pinsker in his research and writing brings the Soldiers Home back into history’s forefront and seemingly corrects this error. I recommend "Lincoln's Sanctuary" to any Lincolnites or Civil War buff. While not an essential, it is quite close to it. show less

This is a wonderful book, but as a piece of historical writing it's quite unusual. The focus of the book is the house where Lincoln lived for the summer months of his presidency. The house is among a complex of buildings ("Soldiers' Home") used partly for the housing of disabled veterans. It can't be an easy matter to write a presidential history around a building, but Pinsker has made some very good decisions as both author and historian, and the book is a great read. The events are given show more chronologically, with the summer months related in as much detail as the source material permits, and the intervening periods filled in more briefly. The events related are a mix of politics, war, and family life, and the Soldiers' Home becomes part of the story. Pinsker is eager to avoid the charge that the Soldiers' Home is simply "the backdrop" to events that are already familiar, and the writing of the book rests on that aspiration. In my opinion Pinsker succeeds, and that success makes this book an original piece of historical writing, quite apart from the fresh judgments which Pinsker brings to some of the source material. show less

Lincoln and his family spent summers at a house on the grounds of a wounded soldier's retirement home. It was a lovely wooded location, but an easy 30 minute commute to the White House. His time there allowed him to relax a little, though he still met many visitors and read and wrote important speeches and documents while there. This short book focused on his personal life, his interactions with the soldiers who guarded him and the the people he interacted with during his commute and his show more evenings at the cottage. show less

I appreciated the incredible amount of research that went into the writing of this book. The information about the day-to-day life of the Lincolns, as well as the soldiers and officials around them on a regular basis, was fascinating and what I enjoyed about the book most. I also liked that photos were included of many of these people (Edwin Stanton, John Hay, Private John W. Nichols, etc.). On the other hand, some of the political discussions were very dry and scholarly, and I admit to show more having skimmed a few such paragraphs or pages here and there.

On a technical note, the font used for this book caused me some difficulty in reading. What made it worse was that when occasionally more emphasis was required, the font changed to a much smaller type (very tiny!), making it even more difficult for me to read.

I would have liked to have had more information about the Soldiers' Home property in general, and the house occupied by the Lincolns in particular. It was mentioned several times that specific definitive information about furnishings and rooms was not available. However, regardless of whether it is or is not possible to say for instance, what room Lincoln or other family members slept in, the Lincoln Cottage is a historical site (this book was written in part to raise funds to run the property), and I would have liked to have been able to see a general floorplan and more photos of the house, both inside and out.

As a casual reader, I was a bit overwhelmed by this book at times, but overall, I would highly recommend it to students of Lincoln, the Civil War, and the workings of the US government during this period. show less