Like many people in Springfield I make a minor hobby of studying Abraham Lincoln. My mom gave tours at Lincoln’s Home and Lincoln’s Tomb so I grew up learning about civil war history. My friends from other towns think I’m a freakishly knowledgeable expert on Lincoln but Springfield is full of people who know far more. Of the dozen or so Lincoln books I’ve read these are the top five I recommend.
1) Lincoln by David Herbert Donald
I spent a summer working at the Lincoln Home National Park bookstore where many people asked me to recommend a good general book on his life. I would name the pluses and minuses of different titles and to most people I recommend this as the best modern single-volume biography by a preeminent Lincoln scholar. It’s easy to read, comprehensive, and well researched. It has accurately been called the authoritative Lincoln biography of this generation.
2) Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness by Paul Simon
Endless books have been written about Lincoln’s life and Presidency, but the majority of his time in elected office was spent in the Illinois State Legislature. Former Illinois Senator Paul Simon examines Lincoln’s state legislative career in exhaustive detail. So much so that some chapters are best read to cure sleepless nights.
But those who finish it will be rewarded with profound new insights into Lincoln’s career and character. It covers Lincoln’s role in moving the state Capital to Springfield, his strong support for the disastrous program of internal improvements, his relationship with abolitionists like the Lovejoy’s, his performance as a legislative leader, why he jumped out the window during one session, and his career-long rivalry with Stephen Douglas. In the process you’ll learn much about Illinois’ early political history that shaped what Lincoln and the state would eventually become.
Incidentally, Lincoln introduced a resolution to ban smoking in the chambers during session. It’s a wonder that no one invoked his name last year during the protracted indoor smoking ban debate in Springfield.
If Lincoln ran for President today his state legislative career would be examined as closely as journalists and the Clinton campaign have studied Obama’s record in the same body. Instead, we had to wait for Paul Simon to give that period of Lincoln’s life the treatment it deserves. I wouldn’t recommend it for casual readers studying Lincoln for the first time but finishing this one is well worth the effort.
3) A. Lincoln: The Crucible of Congress by Paul Findley
Much like Lincoln’s Preparation for Greatness, I enjoyed this book because it shines a spotlight on a period of Lincoln’s career that is often glossed over. Written by a former Illinois Congressman, it focuses on Abe’s single term in Congress. I sometimes wonder if his Congressional term is so consistently overlooked, despite it being Lincoln’s only experience in federal politics prior to being President, because his most notable act was his outspoken opposition to the Mexican American War. Obviously, there are times in American history as we head into war when it’s politically inconvenient to remember that our most popular President was strongly against foreign wars of aggression and gave multiple speeches haranguing President Polk for misleading Congress and the public about his justifications for the Mexican-American war.
Besides the war issue, Findley covers Lincoln’s relationships with his contemporaries, how he was viewed by others, his admiration for Henry Clay, the interesting way he secured the nomination for himself after years of effort, the role religion played in his campaign against a fiery Methodist preacher, and the friendships he formed in Washington that would help him as President. As a bonus, it’s full of pictures of Lincoln’s contemporaries, political cartoons, documents and more. Even seasoned Lincoln and Illinois history fans will find provocative new perspectives. You can't fully understand what he did as President without understanding what he learned before he became President.
4) Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
When focusing on such an iconic figure it’s easy to lose sight of the broader political context in which Lincoln operated. Team of Rivals provides a fresh perspective on Lincoln’s Presidency by focusing on his relationship with the people who served in his cabinet, including Presidential rivals. It already won the Pulitzer Prize along with mountains of praise so there’s no need for me to add mine.
After reading Goodwin’s book I read Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of James A. Garfield by Kenneth Ackerman. It provided an interesting sequel because some of the young up and comers during Lincoln’s Presidency who Goodwin mentions in her book became national leaders during the post-reconstruction era politics covered in Ackerman’s book. Much in the same way Goodwin focuses on those Lincoln interacted with, Ackerman focuses on the political leaders and rivalries that led to Garfield’s upset election and contributed to the environment that resulted in his assassination. It was interesting to read how Lincoln and the Civil War still dominated politics 20 years later and how an assassination finally made a generation of leaders reevaluate how they played the ugly game of politics.
5) Herndon’s Life of Lincoln by William Herndon
This biography by Lincoln’s law partner was required reading for John Y. Simon’s Illinois History class at SIUC. As a Lincoln contemporary, Herndon has his own biases that can be called into question, but it remains the early work by which all later Lincoln biographies are judged.
Those are my top five which made a strong impression on me that I recommend to others plus a bonus post-Lincoln book. I’m including them on my Powell’s bookshelf of recommendations.
