Here's all you need to know about Lincoln. He was challenged to a duel and as the challenged party, got to choose the weapon. He chose broadswords. ( )

Read this when we first moved to North Carolina for LOC in 2012.

David Herbert Donald earned a Pulitzer for some of his other works, and he should have earned it for this one. It is a great, grand biography of Lincoln, and probably the best single-volume biography of Lincoln extant. It is a better update of Sandburg's and better than Jon Meacham's recent volume. (My only caveat is that I have not yet read A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White.)

Donald has a big focus on politics, from the nitty gritty of campaigning to the ideas. It is well-written and covers everything in fine fashion. It endeavors o take things only from Lincoln's perspective, and thus ends abruptly with his death. (What happened to Robert? Tad? Mary? You must look elsewhere. Reconstruction? Elsewhere. Legacy? Elsewhere.) But, it was one of the first of the Lincoln biographies to cover his changing faith fairly well. Donald covers Lincoln's evolving ideas on slavery (and colonization), particularly his conservative, go-slow approach. A good bit too (more than Meacham, for instance) on his career a lawyer. Herndon and Sumner appear as major characters (Donald wrote books on them too, so it is only fitting he uses them as lenses to understand Lincoln.) ( )

No American political figure, aside from perhaps Washington, is as revered as Lincoln. His steady stewardship through the country's darkest years, not to mention his successful implementation of the 13th amendment, has earned him a consistent place either at the top or near the top of historical rankings.

David Herbert Donald's biography does not shy away from the legend of Lincoln. Truly, his political leadership and humanity have earned him that distinction. However, Donald also adds more context and nuance to the man who has become myth. Everything from his depression, to his tempestuous relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln, to his tendency toward moderation, to his final year are laid bare in this book.

It's this dedication to understanding Lincoln as a person that helps make Lincoln such a compelling and important read. ( )

Excellent! ( )