Lincoln

Some readers may find Lincoln tedious and poorly organized. Rather than writing a traditional chronological biography, Oxford historian Carwardine lays out hundreds of facts about Lincoln's public career with scant continuity or artistry. The author suffers from an addiction to unhelpful adverbs: " . . . to coincide more or less precisely with . . ." For Lincoln's many quotes, narrator Dick Hill chooses a comedic voice that makes the great Illinois orator sound like an ignorant hillbilly. Hill portrays Stephen A. Douglas, a native of Vermont, with a German accent that sounds comic. The liberties constitute no small crime because the narrator contradicts the author's descriptions of the men's voices. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine


One might think that a history of Lincoln's mind wouldn't be much different from the history of his life, but in narrative terms the distinction makes a world of difference. Carwardine's magisterial history of Lincoln's thinking on politics, religion, race, the Constitution, and a dozen other topics follows the chronology of his life but is a study, rather than an account of time, place, and events. Whereas a print reader might pause to reflect, in audio it is narrator Stefan Rudnicki's task to maintain the pace and rhythm of the whole. That he does so while staying true to the meditative character of the text is a measure of his impressive skill and discipline. For those who know Lincoln's biography already, this is a book that unlocks many puzzles and seeming contradictions in his record. D.A.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 21, 2005
The heart of this powerful book details Lincoln's election to and years in the White House. In describing his campaign for president, Oxford historian Carwardine (Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America
) recreates the intense party politics of the mid-19th century. The newly formed Republican Party was home to Americans with many different political agendas, and Lincoln's "blend of constitutional conservatism and high-minded... moralism" was a good basis for coalition. Carwardine pays careful attention to Lincoln's religious views, arguing that war brought him into close contact with evangelicals, who argued that the president would only succeed in reuniting the country if he obeyed God's word. Carwardine also traces the evolution of Lincoln's thinking about slavery—though he embraced emancipation first because winning the war required it, by the time he was killed Lincoln had edged toward black men's suffrage. One closes this powerful biography wondering how postbellum politics might have been different were it not for that fateful gunshot on April 14, 1865. Cawardine's Lincoln Prize–winning study is not only analytical and smart, it's also delightfully readable—and it will surely emerge as one of the most important Lincoln books to be published this decade. 74 b&w photos, 3 maps.