Lincoln Books

Interesting angle on Lincoln presidency. Many of the momentous occasions of this era took place at a location most Americans are totally unfamiliar with. This book goes a long way in revealing another White House which played a very big role in the life of our greatest president.

I have read a number of books on the Civil War in Washington...Fine as those books are, they do not accomplish two things that are splendid contributions of your book on the weekend home that the Lincolns made of their cottage at the Soldiers' Home.

First, we often forget the huge personal burden that the war place on Lincoln and his belief, strong in the summer of 1864, that he would be defeated in the next election and that the gains in the war would slip back into Southern control. We can see in your book how his days and nights in the cottage helped Lincoln to hold on to and expand what he had until victory in the 1864 election was assured.

The other is the loving relationship of the President with his wife, Mary Lincoln. We often hear of her oddities and running up of debts. What we do not hear of, and what admirably is stressed in your book, is what you describe as "the mutual affection and mutual dependence" that always linked them despite their great differences in character. Respect for Mary Lincoln, and her contributions to the greatness of Abraham Lincoln, is something we could use more of in writing American history.

I will not go on expect to say that I think I have already indicated the greatness of your book, and my hope that librarians and readers everywhere will have an opportunity to benefit from its revelations and the new light it brings on the life of one of our very greatest Presidents.

The author has done a wonderful job showing what a real human being that Lincoln was. A friend of mine borrowed my book and liked it so well that
she went out and immediately bought 5 more to give as Christmas presents. It is just the right size for a gift book and so well written anyone will be proud to own it. I have also bought 6 more copies to give all my family for Christmas. Everyone should read it, everyone will enjoy it. written by Malcolm Kelly, a Kentuckian proud or both Mr and Mrs Lincoln who were born in this state.

I especially enjoyed the fresh approach to Lincoln and to his wife Mary Todd, who comes across in this new book as an elegant, urbane, and gracious `Republican Queen.' The account of the Lincolns' marriage and their home life at the White House and the Soldiers' Home, from observers such as the Union Army soldiers who guarded him for three years, is fascinating. The book is based on extensive research and is enriched by fresh anecdotes about Lincoln, by Whitman's and abolitionist Longfellow's poetry, and letters and memoirs of the diverse personalities with whom Lincoln interacted, particularly his generals and cabinet members.

It must be difficult-given the plethora of books on Lincoln-to shed new light on an old subject. However, Elizabeth Brownstein does. Through careful and thorough research, Ms. Brownstein addresses issues hitherto unexplored. Lincoln's summer home...provides a suitable setting to describe Lincoln's activities outside the White House. One learns, for instance, that the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation was completed here. One also learns that, far from being a retreat from the hustle and bustle of Pennsylvania Avenue, the home facilitated Lincoln's open-mindedness about receiving virtual strangers at virtually any hour of the day or night and resulted in serious sleep deprivation.

However, it was in the other topics addressed in the book that Lincoln's character is at its most illuminating. His fascination with weaponry, his patience in his dealings with his wife, and his ability to establish collegial relationship with people of vastly differing temperaments are all thoughtfully explored...The characters highlighted are dispassionately analyzed in such a way as to enable the reader to be part of the scene at all times. For instance, Lincoln's wife, so often pilloried...is given a fair hearing and is properly depicted as a courageous soul confronted by agonizing choices and exaggerated expectations of the First Lady's performance as a suitable consort of the most admired President in American History...Mrs. Brownstein provides a valuable service for readers interested in the less dramatic, but no less insightful, clues about Lincoln the President, confronted, as he was, by the unprecedented challenges associated with his era.

Terrific book. Even though these are the recorded remembrances of a servant which are being recalled from many years in the past, this is the best book I have found to get an all-around look inside the Lincoln family. OK, so maybe all of the particulars are slightly colored by time passing, the impressions which they left still count. While everyone knows that Mary Lincoln had emotional problems, it says something that most biographies leave out--that is, emotional and medical problems which, since medicine is not very advanced, caused Mary to self-medicate.

While I knew women took laudenum, I forgot about paregoric which was only removed from pharmacies about 20 years ago. Both are derived from opiates and she may well have taken them together. Add to these two drugs the wine from the wine cabinet (the Lincolns liked to entertain and Mary knew all about sherry and good wines) and you have a recipe for disaster. Certainly something people in the 20th and 21st centuries know all about. The book states that the servant once told Mrs. Lincoln that she had collected all the empty wine bottles and that Mary drank her paregoric straight from a rather large bottle. In an attempt to gain self-control, Mary falls apart and so does the household. Also, a good picture of Robert who has fallen into disgrace in history but who is seen as a victim of the situation. His brother dies, his father is gone a good deal and his mother has panic attacks, over medicates and collapses.

The servant portrays Mary in an honest manner--as a lady who has little self-confidence, falls back on her aristocratic upbringing when she is in trouble, self-medicates and then cries afterward because she knows she has caused everyone pain. She is also portrayed as generous, kind and pretty when she is feeling well.

Overall, a good portrait of the three Lincolns. For what it is worth, another book helps this book along when it states that the autopsy on Mrs. Lincoln showed a large brain tumor. What this family needed was modern medicine and a good doctor.

I found this a very colorful and informative work and I agree that this is probably the most improtant work published on Lincoln in the last twenty years. You can see what Lincoln delt with in his relationship with his wife; her habits and emotional problems and what working for the Lincoln's was really like. You also get a rare picture of young Robert Lincoln who has been very misunderstood and maligned by history. I've read this book twice so far and picked up something new each time. It's well worth the price and is a valuable addition to any Lincoln collection.

I could hardly credit that there existed a detailed portrait of the Lincoln family by an African-American domestic during the family's Springfield years. Yet here it is and, as Lloyd Ostendorf's prefatory material demonstrates, it is undeniably authentic, though unendorsed by much of the academic community.
This is a fascinating book.Its vivid portrayal of the daily life of the Lincoln household is by turns perplexing, funny, moving, and sad. Mariah Vance was first employed by the Lincolns as a laundress in 1850 after Mary Todd had run off every other working woman in Springfield. Henry Vance actually extracted extra wages--the equivalent of combat pay--from Abraham Lincoln for his wifeýs work. Over the next decade, Mrs. Vance became increasingly involved in the household and enjoyed a substantial measure of intimacy with the Lincolns.
The Lincoln who emerges from these pages is startlingly vivid. He is by turns deep, playful, philosophical, earthy, boyish, magisterial, romantic, distant, intimate--and always present. He partakes in absolutely no measure of the modern trait of numbness or non-feeling. His sadness, laughter, thoughtfulness are all immediate and resilient.
He is different in important ways from the man portrayed by much academic scholarship. He is not only more religious, he is much more Biblically grounded than has been supposed. In fact, Mrs. Vance insists that Lincoln was baptised by full immersion into the Church of the Brethren in 1860, just after his election to the Presidency. Conventional academics are skeptical of the story, but it makes sense, when juxtaposed against the language of the Second Inaugural.
Lincoln was also clearly not a racist. The book describes incidents in his early life when he came into close contact with African Americans, worked with them, socialized with them and in one case vigorously defended them to his own detriment.
He is punctilious about calling Mariah "Mrs. Vance" and her husband, Henry, "Mr. Vance," until he knows them well enough to call them by their first names without compromising respect. He has no compunction about socializing with them visibly and unselfconsciously. And he is vocal and definitive about providing cash remuneration for labor at a time when the bestowing of hand-me-downs on domestics was considered an act generosity. He is, in short, entirely unpatronizing. On the other hand, as a husband, Abraham Lincoln had what we now call "problems with intimacy." Whether justifiably or not, he was constantly away from home, riding the circuit or politicking. Thus, he laid the burden of coping with his wifeýs problems on the shoulders of his young son Robert. That the latter grew up to become a distinguished citizen in his own right is a tribute to his character.
For Mary Todd Lincoln was much more than any husband and child could handle. Some have called Mariah's portrait of her sympathetic. Good God! What would be unsympathetic? In these pages, Mrs. Lincoln is portrayed as a grandiose, manic-depressive, narcissistic, drug-addict. It's true that Mariah Vance felt tremendous compassion for Mary Todd Lincoln--in fact for all the Lincolns--but it's hard for the reader to sympathize with Mrs. Lincoln, particularly when it's revealed that she administered paregoric, the mixture of alcohol and opium to which she was addicted, to her babies.
The spirit of Ann Rutledge hovers over the domestic life of the Lincolns like a cloud. A quarter century after the young woman's death, Lincoln was still preoccupied with her. At one point, he finds in a shop and purchases a tintype portrait of a girl who he says is Ann's twin. In a colossal error in judgment, he shows this portrait to his wife and begins talking about his feelings for Ann, eliciting from his wife an entirely predictable, and not unjustified, eruption of violence, invective, and self-pity.
And yet the book is often very funny. Mariah Vance was an acute observer, who loved the Lincoln family deeply but without illusions. Her quick wit and refusal to be intimidated by her "betters" clearly delighted Lincoln himself, who described himself with neither self-pity nor resentment as "white trash." Her love and support for Robert Lincoln were clearly essential to the boy's psychological survival.
This is in every sense a domestic drama. The imminent earthquake of civil war is evident just offstage, but never dominates the action. The story also has something of the arc of a novel, as Abraham and Mary Lincoln learn to resolve the wounds of the past and reforge their marriage.
My only objection has to do with the Lincolns' language. This book was transcribed in short hand by a young woman named Ada Sutton in the first decade of the twentieth century. Decades later, the mature Ms. Sutton wrote out the memoirs, retaining Mariah Vance's Black English, which she had taken down phonetically.
The conversation of the Lincolns, however, she translated into a formal English of her own devising that completely lacks the vigor and suppleness of colloquial speech. This rings false because the Lincolns did not speak in such a stilted manner. At one point, Mrs. Vance notes that the Harvard-educated Robert Lincoln spoke correct English and tried to get his parents to emulate him, but to no avail. "They talked like old Kaintuck folks, what they was," Mariah observes.
This is an absolutely irreplaceable book, so full of pleasures and riches that when I finished it I turned around and started reading it all over again.

When I came across this book I thought: surely its a hoax! But no, the recollections of Mariah Vance are well attested. I suppose one should have to urge caution because: (1)The memories are filtered through the person to whom Mariah gave her recollections. (2) They are reminiscences from many years after Lincoln had been well and truly canonised not only as the saviour of the Union, but among blacks he was doubly revered as the Liberator of the slaves. Hence most of the marriage troubles are blamed on Mrs Lincoln who comes across as somewhat of a termagant, saved only by occasional tendernesses to husband and to Mariah herself. To me the reproduction of Mariah's speech as 1900-style black idiom grated a little - when will authors realise that this type of writing can pall quickly, when grammatical english almost always sounds fresh and immediate? Despite all those slight negatives, this book was immensely refreshing - it clears up a lot of mysteries about the Lincoln's relationship, about Lincoln's love for Ann Ruttledge who died tragically, and about Lincoln's life-long search for religious truth. It re-habilitates Robert Lincoln as a worthy son of a great father, and answers some of the criticism he took from historians about the later treatment of his mother. Lincoln has often been accused of 'racism', and was once forced into an election statement against racial equality, which may have been sincere, but he had no qualms about his eldest son being best friend of the son of his black housekeeper, and having regular visits between the two households. Even with the warnings given at the start of this review, its a 'must read' for Lincoln scholars and collectors, and an interesting further study for those who have read the Sandburg and David H. Donald biographies.

When I came across this book I thought: surely its a hoax! But no, the recollections of Mariah Vance are well attested. I suppose one should have to urge caution because: (1)The memories are filtered through the person to whom Mariah gave her recollections. (2) They are reminiscences from many years after Lincoln had been well and truly canonised not only as the saviour of the Union, but among blacks he was doubly revered as the Liberator of the slaves. Hence most of the marriage troubles are blamed on Mrs Lincoln who comes across as somewhat of a termagant, saved only by occasional tendernesses to husband and to Mariah herself. To me the reproduction of Mariah's speech as 1900-style black idiom grated a little - when will authors realise that this type of writing can pall quickly, when grammatical english almost always sounds fresh and immediate? Despite all those slight negatives, this book was immensely refreshing - it clears up a lot of mysteries about the Lincoln's relationship, about Lincoln's love for Ann Ruttledge who died tragically, and about Lincoln's life-long search for religious truth. It re-habilitates Robert Lincoln as a worthy son of a great father, and answers some of the criticism he took from historians about the later treatment of his mother. Lincoln has often been accused of 'racism', and was once forced into an election statement against racial equality, which may have been sincere, but he had no qualms about his eldest son being best friend of the son of his black housekeeper, and having regular visits between the two households. Even with the warnings given at the start of this review, its a 'must read' for Lincoln scholars and collectors, and an interesting further study for those who have read the Sandburg and David H. Donald biographies.

What a beautifully illustrated book! This was a wonderful book based on a true story. I used it with pre-schoolers and they really enjoyed the story as well as the beautiful artwork. I highly recommend it!

I have long been a fan of Linnea in Monet's Garden - so I was very excited to find this new series of books by Laurence Anholt. Anholt's approach to introducing children to these artists - he has covered Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Degas, and DaVinci - is to use their art to create the backgrounds and settings for his characters. This book in particular is my favorite of the series because it is crowned with a fold out of Monet's vivid Waterlilies with a tiny boat floating across it carrying the story's members - Monet and a little girl who happens upon his garden. Before it is over, the little girl plucks one of the lilies from the famous painting as a memoir. My daughter loves this picture - and it is almost surreal to me to see Monet's art coming to life in such a manner. I can hardly wait until she visits the museum and sees the real painting. Watching her make this connection should be very exciting.

Aside from this stunning mixture of Monet's work and Anholt's own lush artwork - carefully drawn to compliment the featured art - the book gives some great educational information about Monet by weaving it into the story - all this without ever starting to sound like a textbook. The story retains its' focus and its' charm without becoming boring. That is an amazing accomplishment in my opinion.

I hope to purchase the entire set for a lovely and educational Christmas gift. These are sure to become beloved classics. Any children's book that learns to entertain both child and parent equally often does.

Anholt's lovely book about Monet is my favorite of the series about famous artists. He demystifies impressionism and actually inspires children to paint their own "magical gardens"!!

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet is a great way to expose young children to impressionist art. My son loved the story of Julie in Monet's garden. Julie is a young French girl who takes a train with her Mother to visit Monet's garden. As they arrive into the countryside, her dog runs away and is found in Monet's garden. Soon the painter and Julie become friends. The illustrations are bright and colorful. You almost feel as if you are inside one of Monet's paintings. Children will be captivated by the story as well as the beautiful pictures.

Fine art apprecation was a lost thing among adults let alone children, encouraging an understanding of art at a young age will encorage intrest in art in children and their caregivers alike. Help kids enjoy art and culture while reading a fun story. With this book, (and the others in the series) they introduce kids to the famous artworks of great painters throughout history while encoraging a childs imagination to be creative and tell a story with each picture.

This story is even better because it is based on factual people, even the little girl. She embarks on a journey with her mother to visit a friend..the little girl ends up chasing her runaway dog on the trip and finds herself in a most magnificent garden..only to find out that is the "friend" they were going to visit. This book is wonderful, historical, educational, and fun. It encourages children to think about paintings, and to form images and stories for each one, to think about "what would it be like to be inside that painting".

While South Central Texas (San Antonio) isn't a coastal area (and isn't exactly a "moderate" climate, either), Latymer's book has proven to be a good resource for our area. The pictures helped me to visualize what could be, and the plant lists have been invaluable for choosing plants. While I've always loved "digging in the dirt," no one ever would have accused me of being an accomplished gardener. But that didn't stop me. Thanks to the inspiration I found in Latymer's book, I've been working steadily at replacing my grassy front yard with a Mediterranean-style water-wise garden. And now, many of my neighbors are interested in doing the same. They think my yard is gorgeous. And so do I.

Can't beat this for our climate (So. Calif. by the beach) for trustworthy info. Hugo is dead-on! We own zillions of gardening books and this is by far my personal favorite.

This book is a good reference for moderate coastal areas (we are on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in So. Cal.) The reference area (2/3 of the book) is well organized with lots of photos. Latymer has divided Mediterranean plants into sections on trees, palms, sbrubs, etc. The reader can look at a choice of plants for a particular application, which are grouped together.

This book is an absolute delight, as much for the prose as for the glorious photographs. As well as recommendations for planting in various Mediterranean conditions, the author gives splendid professional advice on local problems such as water shortage, salt air damage and so on.

If you have had failures in your ex-pat. garden through trying to acclimatise plants which only thrive in more northerly regions, this book will help you never again to make those mistakes.

No-one should be without it; I have two of them. Yvonne Gregson.

The most valuable thing about this book for me was the extensive plant list which contained good information about size, growing speed, minimum temperatures, water need and descriptions of the plant itself sometimes including information about propagation. The list is devided in different chapters for trees, shrubs, climbers, palms, cacti and succulents, perrenials and annuals which made it very easy to use while planning a garden.
The information chapters are mainly oriented on style and design though even some chapters about soil and water are included which contain valuable knowledge.

A beautiful gift book. Each page of three haiku faces breathtaking paintings in the Japanese style. Most of the paintings are of nature, giving a sense of the season as one reads haiku of that season. The combination of painting and haiku gives a much deeper value.

Poetry is soppy, Zen is impractical and Orientals don't think or feel like the rest of mankind - three myths demolished in one elegant little book. Every poem breathes humanity and warmth, and the pictures complement them beautifully. A translator should above all respect and preserve the intent of the original author; Clements' fine, perceptive translations allow the underlying emotions and sensations of the works room to breathe, and give the reader space to make his own interpretation. These are poets who, attempting detachment from the world, have stood back far enough to observe it and themselves with loving exactness. Beautiful in every way.

The cover itself - so beautifully - lets the reader know the jewels to come. In a sparse, delicate writing style, these haiku take us through dawn to dusk.

The illustrations - wood block prints, scenes from painted folding screens - create a haiga in the mind.

If you can procure a copy, please do so. It will enrich your life immeasurably.

This book is beautiful not only for the wonderful poetry but also forthe wonderful artwork throughout. Here's one of my favorite haikus from the book:

A fallen flower
Flew back to its perch
A butterfly

Then on the opposing page there is a wonderful chinese painting of a butterfly amongst some flowers.

The haiku included here (and there are many!) are so beautiful, they make me slow down and breath when I read them. Here's another wonderful one:

Without a brush
The willow paints the wind.

Simply wonderful. This would make a fantastic gift for the nature lover or the lover of haiku.

A book to savor. If you're familiar with haiku, you keep feeling a shock of recognition when you encounter a favorite redone in Clements's thoughtful lean style. Fresh organization, by time of day. Illustrations well chosen and well reproduced. This would be a fine gift book for a young person you want to interest in poetry.

This book achieves the perfect blend of storytelling, historical research, compassion, and artistry. Drawing from the primary documents (the letters are reproduced in the book), Winnick creates a fully believable context for the touching exchange between the President and a little girl we can all relate to. She presents an example of how to use our imagination to travel through time by studying our cultural heritage. The illustrations perfectly match the narrative, rich with detail. Our two year old daughter already loves hearing the story told while seeing the pictures. I can't wait to see her read it for herself. This book will be passed on for generations.

While Mrs. Winnick's storytelling ability proves to be far beyond what the average children book writer is able to communicate, I found the oil paintings delightful and engrossing. Mrs. Winnick displays a true talent for the arts and really knows how to provide for children interesting and educational tales about our country's history. I highly recommend purchasing this book and sharing Mrs. Winnick's magic with your children.

The heartwarming storytelling and stunning oil paintings of Karen Winnick's , "Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers," makes me anxious to read the next historical masterpiece that Mrs. Winnick will grace her readers and their parents with. "Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers" is a true delight. A true story that shows that, even back in dark days when women had very little voice, a young girl can make such an influence on such an important man. This story gives my daughter the confidence and energy that she will need to face all the challenges the world present.

Richly illustrated, a treasure for the whole family. The children will cherish the heroism of the young protagonist brought to life by Ms. Winnick's deft brushstrokes and clear imagery. Adults will appreciate the lessons their children will learn from an independent young lady with the desire to make her dreams become reality

Mrs. Winnick brings magic to the Abraham Lincoln legacy. This book is a must for all children. I highly recommend this book for all parents to buy and read to their kids. It will not only provide hours of entertainment, but it will bring parents and their children closer together each time they read it.

Historians have not been able to agree as to President Lincoln's religious beliefs. He has been characterized as everything from a God-fearing Christian to an atheistic humanist. It seems clear that Lincoln did not often attend church services and took issue with some of the dogma, doctrine, and methods of orthodox Christianity. And, yet, he emerges as one of our most spiritual presidents.

Dr. Susan Martinez, the author of this book, points out that more than 6,000 books have been written about Lincoln and that it has been said that "there are no important new facts to disclose." She takes issue with that comment as the stories about Lincoln's association with several credible mediums, especially one Nettie Colburn Maynard, while not new, have been pretty much ignored, forgotten, denied, or swept under the rug.

Many of Lincoln's biographers have taken note of claims that the 16th President received guidance from spirits who communicated through mediums. However, the claims are usually derided as beneath the dignity of such a great man. Not long before reading this book, I read a very lengthy magazine article dealing with Lincoln's religious and spiritual views. It mentioned that Spiritualists had made claims to having influenced Lincoln's thinking, but the author seems to have smirked at this claim and did not elaborate.

Martinez digs deeply into the documented records of Lincoln's involvement with mediums and sets forth a preponderance of evidence suggesting that he was indeed guided by benevolent spirits communicating through credible mediums in his most crucial decisions and creative works, including the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln was seen by many who knew him as a somber man with a gloomy disposition. Martinez examines his "peculiar melancholy" and the events in his life that shaped it, including his mother's death at age nine, a strict and distant father, the death of a sister at age 10, and the death of his beloved Ann Rutledge when he was 26. She examines Lincoln's inner turmoil and his attempts to reconcile all of his hardships and the vindictive God of the Old Testament with his evolving ideas of justice, mercy, and goodness, concluding that these experiences molded Lincoln's psyche in a way that made him more sensitive to the unseen principle.

Martinez recounts the paranormal events of 1848 giving rise to belief in spirit communication, pointing out that many celebrated names, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Cullen Bryant, Thomas Carlyle, James Fenimore Cooper, Emily Dickinson, Horace Greeley, Sir William Crookes, Edgar Allen Poe, Alfred Russel Wallace, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Queen Victoria, and W. B. Yeats, became investigators and proponents of the new "Spiritual Science." And yet, the evidence was suppressed by the religious fundamentalists, who saw the phenomena as a threat to established dogma and doctrine, as well as by scientific fundamentalists, who viewed it with "intellectual" arrogance.

The president's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, began exploring "spiritualism," as it came to be called, by visiting mediums and sitting in circles after the death of their 11-year-old son, "Willie." The president took a passing interest in the phenomena and then joined in on a more regular basis. At one sitting, after Nettie Colburn went into a trance, it is said that the spirits speaking through her lectured the president about his duty to emancipate the slaves.

A number of people who knew Lincoln or came in contact with him are quoted attesting to his association with "spiritualists" and the influence they had on him and his important decisions during the Civil War. Others who knew him denied such an association. Martinez dissects the testimony and leaves the reader with evidence strongly favoring spirit communication and influence. She says that Lincoln moved from being an agnostic to a believer. But a believer in what? "No earthly power, no organized religion, no man-made God," she concludes, "but faith - a new faith - in the outworkings of the Unseen world of intelligent design."

I'm the first to admit my two passionate interests are Abraham Lincoln and the paranormal so it shouldn't come as much of a shock that I found this book to be extremely interesting. I don't know that I buy the whole "Lincoln as psychic medium" slant but the book does shed a lot of light on a neglected aspect of Lincoln's personality, that is his interest in the paranormal, ghosts and the like. It discusses his interest in seances...in and out of the White House and makes the argument that Lincoln's interest was far deeper than has been admitted. Overall the evidence presented holds up.
I did take exception to the author taking aim at Dr. Wayne Temple's research. I don't always agree with Dr. Temple but know him to be a fine researcher, the author here would disagree and uses Temple's book "From Skeptic to Prophet" against him repeatedly throughout.
That aside, I really enjoyed this book and would argue that it's a fine addition to any Lincoln library, don't let the subject matter scare you away.

Impressive. The Psychic Life of Abraham Lincoln, while it is an apologia of Spiritualism past and present, is also a very intimate look at one of the most complex and iconic personalities short of Jesus of Nazareth. While the doubter will have much to criticize I suspect, if ones feelings with regard to the topic of Spiritualism itself can be set aside for the moment, a much clearer portrait of the man can be obtained by the exercise.

The book is, however, very anecdotal and while it puts data into chapters with logical headings, the bulk of each is largely "loose association" and quotes from various sources, many of them having little to do with the Civil War president, and many having to do with the character of Spiritualism in the 19th Century. To the extent that this material places the man solidly within the venue of his own time, this is very helpful. Certainly anyone who has no clue as to the topic of Spiritualism and its history will find it illuminating and helpful to the understanding of the 19th century culture of which it was a part.

Quantities of literature have been written about Lincoln (I Googled his name and came up with 8,510,000 entries), yet it still leaves the reader very confused about him. Perhaps more confused about him. Like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, much of the man's personality lay beneath the "water" line for most of his peers. Furthermore and for this very reason, every writer about the man had/has his own "Lincoln" version in mind.

As Susan Martinez herself notes, more than Lincoln the man, one receives a distorted image filtered through the perspective of his biographers; through cultural lenses, personal biases, personal agendas, etc. Maybe it's unavoidable. Dr. Martinez quotes from a roughly contemporary source which stated that a mind of such genius as Lincoln's, viewed through the filter of lesser minds, always appears "unrecognizable (p. 133)." She also notes the addendum to this statement made by author Victor Searcher (1965) that this fact is the source of the "many different Lincolns (p. 133)." Certainly the man's contemporaries were every bit as confused about the Real Lincoln as modern day authors.

I think that the ultimate cause of this is the fact that Lincoln, by dying as he did and at the time he did, assumed almost deified status for the average person of his time, not to mention for us. He left his work incomplete, he was not allowed to undergo the effects of time which often dims recollections of past deeds or buries them under later concerns and preoccupations. Instead he became an icon of martyrdom, righteousness, freedom, courage in the face of adversity to almost all of his contemporaries and even more so to those generations that followed.

This larger than life iconic status was a very tempting thing to manipulate in the interests of individuals whose own agendas were not quite as altruistic. Furthermore, the attempt to cultivate and manipulate his persona for private interests began almost immediately as the power brokers of the time grappled with one another for control.

Much of our confusion over the man is due to the fact that private family papers were destroyed by Lincoln's only surviving son Robert in an attempt to control what was written and believed about his esteemed father. Robert's efforts at what he obviously considered "damage control" even extended to having his mother committed for "insanity" some years later. Whether this was out of a misguided fear that his father's great reputation would be besmirched by his mother's behavior or that the value of his own reputation as a Lincoln might lose its value is anyone's guess.

Some of our confusion over the person of Lincoln is based in Robert's activities and in the biases about women. Just the basis for the diagnosis of Mary Lincoln's "insanity" would put most modern women in an institution: spending too much money on clothing, having a political opinion, having an educated mind, expressing "excessive" grief (ie. over the loss of almost all of her children except the controlling Robert and of her husband who was assassinated in her presence while she was actually speaking with him; over the fact that while she had a northern husband and loyalty, her natal family was primarily located in the south; and over the fact that her outspokenness caused most people to dislike her because she was "unfeminine," leaving her lonely and isolated, etc.--for which see: Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography .)

In fact, if one looks at the material on Abraham and Mary Lincoln, one comes up with a very dichotomized view of the two of them, an almost Biblical duality of "good" and "evil." Abraham is everything good, noble, and male, while Mary is everything uncontrolled, selfish and female. They are for their contemporaries, from whose descriptions we gain our only view of them, the antithesis of one another. Part of this was due to the fact that Mary, despite her loyalty and support of her husband's position, was still viewed as Southern, ie "bad," while Abraham was viewed as Northern, ie "good." It should be noted, however, that this latter assessment accrued to the man by virtue of his conveniently dying almost on the eve of the end of the war. During the war, he was often vilified by the same people who paid lip service to his greatness after his death. Life was not easy for the Lincolns during the White House years (for which see: The Lincolns in the White House: Four Years That Shattered a Family .

Because of this duality of persona between the Lincoln pair, much of what was considered "unacceptable" for the icon Lincoln is offloaded onto Mary, "the bad influence." Unfortunately some of this goes on in modern biographies of Lincoln and it paints a distorted portrait of the man. In short it supports the icon, not the man. This is a sad state of affairs. It robs the man of his humanness and denies the incredible burden that he undertook and which, at its end, took his life. It is my firm conviction that even had the man not been assassinated, he would not have lived out his second term. I think he would have died of the effects of the stress under which he lived for over four years, those same effects already visible in the succession of photos of the man over the time of his administration.

So what new does this author actually present to us with her Spiritualistic view of Lincoln? A very good one, I think. For one thing, she reflects on the cover-ups and the manipulation of the Lincoln persona--both that of Abraham and of Mary--by others. She sees and presents Abraham, warts and all, and Mary Lincoln, strong points and all, and she refuses to commit the modern error of removing the two from their own 19th Century milieu.

This is an important point. No person is outside of the influences of his or her own time. If Abraham was a spiritualist at heart and if he chose not to declare it, he was not alone, as Dr. Martinez makes plain. It could be political, professional, and social suicide to make beliefs of this kind known, and she provides examples of it.

But if he and his wife chose to seek comfort in beliefs in an afterlife and a continued interest by the deceased in their living family, why would that be particularly strange? Why when almost every person living at the time had also sustained great family losses in a war that seemed to be without end and who probably also looked to their personal philosophy or religious beliefs for comfort, is the Lincolns' search for a balm for their grief unacceptable and unbelievable?

Why, taken within the reference point of his time and place, would Lincoln's personal beliefs be something to leave out of the picture? Whatever they may have been, and despite the fear that superstition might have made important decisions--given the complexity of any urgent time, tossing a coin might be the only other option!--he obviously had the wherewithal to get through the stressful time and to make good decisions, and that despite his detractors' protests. Anyone who can make considered decisions, by whatever means, in the maelstrom of chaotic and stressful times is a treasure.

Probably better than any of the Lincoln portraits I've read before, this one really, really, really illuminates the staggering stress and emotional burden that this presidency represented to its occupant, and more than any other biography, it shows the incredible good fortune that having this particular man in this particular place at this particular time really was for the destiny of the country. I doubt there were any others who could have withstood the pressure or undertaken the mission so successfully as Lincoln did. If he chose spiritual resources available to him at the time to support his own emotional well being, good for him!

Lincoln saw his death in dreams, consulted oracles, and knew at age 22 that he'd become President of the U.S.: despite the evidence historians have dismissed his psychic involvements. But his rose to power coincided with a rise in interest in spiritualism, and this chronicle of his psychic side, which includes precognitive dreams, trance-like states, and even White House seances, is enhanced by the deathbed memoir of his favorite medium and charts his many clairvoyant incidents and psychic interests. New age libraries will consider it a 'must have' acquisition.

Dr. Martinez is to be applauded for the first time threading together all the anecdotal and documented yet neglected references to the Lincoln's attraction and participation in the budding Spiritualist religious movement. Mrs. Lincoln had sensitized herself to the possibility of afterdeath communication by the tragic loss of two young sons.

This work draws connections to primary documents not incorporated into mainstream Lincoln studies. The only disconcerting note is the authors apparent belief in the 19th century alternative bible "Oahspe" channeled through the mediumship of John B. Newbrough. Oahspe is certainly a fringe document with few organized students devoted to its psuedo-old testament language and cosmic operating manual. Oahspe is a more quaint, Victorian "Urantia" type body of work. The one attempt at establishing an intentional community based on Oahspe's teachings was the failed Shalam colony in New Mexico. I understand that Newbrough's body is buried in the Las Cruces Masonic cemetary.

Dr. Martinez's scattered quotes gleaned from Oahspe do not serve to strengthen the premise of her book. The Oahspe derived Lincoln quotes merely serve to embarass the reader for Dr. Martinez if she thinks this dated piece of spiritual literature supports any case for a stronger sympathy of spiritualism by the Lincoln's than may previously been accepted by mainstream historians. Nor are the Lincoln's dyed in the wool spiritualists, but rather inquisitive progressive minded 19th century Americans looking for more than exoteric answers to the questions surrounding life and death.

In the author's biography in this book, it mentions a biography she has written on J.B. Newbrough, this is worth noting for a major study of his life is needed for students of 19th century alternative religious movements.

I bought this book as a gift for my husband who has been interested in Linclon ever since reading "Lincoln: The Unknown" by Dale Carnegie. Since receiving the book he has become interested in studying Lincoln's prose to improve his own written communication skills. I've read parts and it is truly fascinating---there are letters to his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and to other notable historical persons (and various others) that help us to see Mr. Lincoln as he really was---kind, clever, quick-witted, and intelligent.

Of all the folks in the storied history of this world of ours, Mr. Lincoln is the one I'd most like to have had the opportunity to meet....this book takes one as close as he or she can get to that imaginary event.

This book chronicles not only texts of key speeches showing the evolution of Lincoln's view of slavery, but also insightful letters revealing some private thoughts of this shrewd railroad lawyer whose ambition propelled him to heights that made him the best President our Republic has ever seen. The 1838 Lyceum speech of Lincoln's youth gives stunning insight into that ambition. This book supports the notion that Lincoln was also the greatest writer to ever occupy the White House, revealing an impressive variety of literary styles, from meticulous legal argumentation to a dry, concise wit. In light of Lincoln's literary legacy, it is no wonder that each President since Woodrow Wilson has deemed the aid of professional speechwriters vital to their strategies. And even with the professional help the modern chief executives have gotten, Lincoln's rhetoric remains the most sublime of all our Presidents.

The musty, stoic Lincoln of folklore is brought to life in the pages of this book, and in the best way possible... through his own words. Abraham Lincoln, we discover through his letters and speeches, was first and foremost an intellectual: one can feel his pain as he writes poetry about homesickness and the loss of a close friend to mental illness; one can hear his enthusiasm as he discusses the history of communication and human progress, to such a degree that he goes off on fascinating tangents; one can detect barely-suppressed anger at pro-slavery activists who lynched an abolitionist in 1838, or at the hypocrisy of popular sovereignty when espoused by Stephen Douglas twenty years later. I refer to him here as an intellectual because the defining characteristic that underlies the majority of these letters is the way that Lincoln uses his mind to both understand and make his way through the world he occupied. One can see him exploring new ideas, contemplating contemporary events, attempting to formulate political strategies, and so on; his cerebral nature shines through every page. I can think of no better way to get to know one of our nation's three greatest presidents (along with George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt) than through the pages of this book.

Abraham Lincoln is a giant in American history, but it wasn't until I read his speeches and writings that his wisdom and wit became apparent. This is a man born in the depths of poverty, and who climbed to the very top. The Gettysburg Address, largely ignored when it was first given, has risen to become one of the most profound, definite, and understood explanations of the American dream..."we will witness a new birth of freedom...that government ofthe people, by the people, and for the people will not perish from the earth..." God Bless Lincoln, and God Bless America.

The first maybe six or seven chapters of this book were really tedious for me as they really didn't seem to delve into the life of Mr. Perry as much as they explored the "times" of Mr. Perry. It wasn't until around chapter 8 or so that I was able to enjoy the book as it went into more detail about Mr. Perry's life in and out of show-biz. Mr. Perry was a character, to say the least. Flamboyant with his riches and fame, but seemingly not so smart about his future. I just don't understand why some don't see just how much of a contribution Mr. Perry made to the world of Black cinema. Yes, he perfected the character of a slow-footed, shuffling, mealy mouth, but had he not made those enroads in film, would there be the Poitiers and Washingtons of today? I wish that there was some way to actually view In Old Kentucky and Hearts in Dixie so I can actually see the character Mr. Perry created and watch as his talents were displayed. Given the times that Mr. Perry and others of his generation had to work within, I'd say that he did what he had to do. Watkins does a fine job of providing us with a fact-based and well-documented glimpse into the life and times of Mr. Perry.

This book was well researched, and provides an entertaining and enlightening insight into an era that could not exist since the civil rights movement of the 60's. It speaks to social justice and inclusion, bias and the ability to transcend existing norms to earn a living at a time when, for black America, second class citizenship and economic hardship were the norm. Mr. Watkins is the professor and we are his students.

A Fascinating Character"

I'd heard the term "Stepin Fetchit," but I didn't know that there was a real person (Lincoln Perry) or movie star who used the name. So when a friend suggested I read this book I was leery. But after a few pages I was caught up in the times and in Perry's struggle to break into films and establish himself as a star. What surprised me most is that he was apparently an intelligent, gifted performer who was nothing like our picture of the "Uncle Tom" that the name is associated with. Who knew that Perry wrote for the Chicago Defender, fought for higher pay and better roles for black actors, hung out with the heavyweight champ Jack Johnson as well as Muhammad Ali, and, for years, lived such a lavish life in Hollywood. Watkins gives us a rich, detailed account of this complex, talented black comic actor. And when one reads about the racial restrictions and circumstances of black actors in the 1920s and 30s, the reasons for his being cast in the cartoonish movie roles he played become clear. He was a man before his time. I finished the book thinking that Perry, with his ambition and outrageous knack for publicity and self-promotion, could have been a star today. It seems that Perry had more flair and attitude than many of today's biggest stars.
This is an entertaining, eye-opening book - a great read. I recommend it for anyone interested in entertainment history or the bumpy road that black actors had to travel to become accepted in Hollywood, and for everyone who wants to be introduced to one of the most fascinating characters I've ever read about. Lincoln Perry's achievements need to be reevaluated and "Stepin Fetchit" definitely deserves * * * * * Five Stars.

Lincoln Perry, the man the world came to know as Stepin Fetchit, was a complex man. After reading this book, I realize I have childhood memories of seeing Fetchit in films on television. I also remember some of his imitators. Mel Watkins brought to mind cartoons like "Who Killed Cock Robin?" where a Stepin Fetchit type character was being beaten by the police. I asked my sister to quote our deceased mother using the title of this book. She said, "Stop acting like Stepin Fetchit." That made us laugh. But I also remember being taught by my elders who were the great grandchildren of ex-slaves, the subtle form of "playing dumb" to avoid being oppressed by the oppressor. Unfortunately, when "the oppressor" saw Stepin Fetchit movies, he didn't get the joke because it was at his expense. Therefore, forward thinking black people had to cringe watching some of movies movies in mixed company because they knew that this comedians "act" was being accepted as typical black man behavior. Mel Watkins did a fantastic job of explaining Lincoln Perry and the time in which he lived.

Chances are you don't know who Lincoln Perry is, and chances are you do know who Stepin Fetchit is, even though you may never have seen any of Fetchit's movies. Fetchit was Perry's stage persona, famous for playing the "shiftless darky," the slow-talking, drowsy shuffler that was the comic bane of his white masters. Perry was as full of contradictions as the character he portrayed, and both get a full biography in _Stepin Fetchit: The Life & Times of Lincoln Perry_ (Pantheon) by Mel Watkins. Watkins has previously written a history of African American comedy, and so is well acquainted with Fetchit, his fellow performers, and the social changes of the twentieth century that led to the changes in feeling about Fetchit's screen character. This biography is not just about the man and character, but about a particular aspect of twentieth century American race relations.

Perry was born in 1902 in Key West, Florida, and followed his father into performing, working tent shows, carnivals, and eventually vaudeville. Movies were not a career that black performers considered at the time, because if depicted, blacks were played by whites in blackface. Perry may have taken a job as a porter at MGM, and in 1927 he acted in _In Old Kentucky_, his first film appearance, one which got him some critical notice. Perry did not invent Fetchit's "torpid physical presence and halting, meandering speech," but he performed the role with meticulous attention and timing. When onstage before an audience, a key part of his act (it sounds like the sort of transformation for which Andy Kaufman was famous) was to come meandering out, looking lost and confused, and start a whining, incoherent monologue. He would then suddenly burst into a spirited dance that showed that the sloth and stupidity were nothing but pretense. Watkins makes the point that on the screen, there was no such transformation; Perry's sluggard, always performed with skillful languor, was the only role he got to play. He became the first true black movie star, and one of the first to have a studio contract. Like so many actors of his time, he spent lavishly and foolishly. Throughout his movie career, he would irritate studio executives so much that he would get fired from a movie or from his contract, whereupon he would go back to the road for work on the stage. He was criticized by the civil rights movement in the 1940s, and was unemployable because of it, although he could have made a comeback in drama in the sixties. He died in a home for Hollywood actors in 1985.

Watkins has provided a full picture of a complex man of real talent who used it in a timely way, a way that simply became unfashionable as times changed. Perry's aggressive demands to be treated (and paid) like white stars branded him a troublemaker. His fame opened doors for other black actors in less controversial roles, but his name stands for a now-regrettable image. This entertaining biography shows that there was more to him than the image.

Nine years ago this was my son's favorite book. The first one was so worn, we had to buy another one. Now we have a daughter and she can't leave it alone either.

I bought this book when my middle child was 16 months old, and by the time he was 2 it was worn out. I had to buy a new one when the next child came along, and it's worn out too. The illustrations are delightful, and my children had endless fun pointing to and naming all the items in the margins of the pages. What a wonderful way to boost a child's vocabulary! Truly a MUST HAVE for kids 16months to 3 years.

The rhyming text, and wonderful pictures make this book a treasure; it was one of my son's favorites. The pictures in the margins of the book made it enjoyable even when he was too young to follow the story, because he could point-to and eventually name all of the items. I love that this baby is home with his father during the day, and mom comes home in the evening. Our family, like so many others today, uses a tag-team patenting system (I work days, my husband works nights), so this is true to life for our children. I highly recommend this for children up to 3 or 3 1/2 years old.

There is no better review than the smile on my one-year old's face when she sees this book. The adorable pictures of familiar items are a wonderful vocabulary builder. I finally found it in Amazon.uk after trying to trace it here for a long time.

Normal daily acitivities for baby. Children regardless of gender relate to the baby in the book. Gender sensitive.