Lincoln Books

While there is nothing that could duplicate the numerous sleepless nights leading upto the annual summer trip to Lincoln Park, this book comes close. I kept looking closely at some of those b/w pictures from the 60s and 70s to see if me or my siblings were in them!

Going to Lincoln Park for the first time (in the early 70's) was one of the best family outtings we ever had. We were there as part of a special Polaroid day, and the special "Polaroid passes" we had tied to our wrists allowed us kids to ride on everything in the park for only 50 cents!

Unlike the modern theme parks, we were allowed to bring in our own food. Dad set up a home base in the picnic area where he cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on a portable grill. The folks spent all day chatting with the other Polaroid employees while us kids went nuts all around the park (I was still young enough to enjoy the colorful rides in Kiddie Land, yet old enough for most of the adult rides (except the big Coaster...!)). That day started a yearly tradition (either going with the Polaroid group or on my birthday in July). But, 30 years later the park is gone (and Polaroid pretty much is too!)....

This book really brings back a lot of memories! You'll re-discover attractions you may have forgotten about, and you'll learn quite a bit about the park. It has a lot of pictures and you'll go through this book very quickly!

Overall, the book is a treat, but you'll find yourself wishing it was longer. It leaves you hungering for a bit more. I would have liked it to include pictures of *all* the attractions, and maybe an overhead plan/map of the park. (It was kind of hard trying to picture where everything used to be located.) But, this is the only aspect of the book that I found was lacking.

I'm really glad I bought this book, and if you have a Lincoln Park story to tell, you'll be glad you did too! You'll then be compelled to write about what the park meant to you! (We should turn these review pages into "Lincoln Park Remembered - Part 2"!)

I have missed Lincoln Park so much since it's demise. I was so afraid this wonderful place would be lost forever. To see it come to life again in this book brought back so many happy memories. My grandfather used to take my brother and I every Wednesday during the summer. The pictures and stories stirred memories,smells,sounds, and smiles long forgotten. If you ever had the privilege of going you would also enjoy locating the video "Lincoln Park Remembered", with photographs and film clips. How nice to be able to step through the gates again!

Lincoln Park Remembered is one of those special books that from the moment you receive it you just know you will never part with it. The publisher was able to obtain hundreds of remarkable photographs from members of the community who wanted very much to see that very special place honored and remembered. I remember long Summer days spent there as a child with my parents and grand parents and how everyone was able to find things to do that suited them to a T. This book is like a personal photo album and I look forward to introducing and sharing Lincoln Park with my daughter, who will just have to trust me when I tell her the place was holy.

My grandfather, Alphonse Guillmette, ran the roller coaster for many years at Lincoln Park, so when this book was released- it made for a great gift. Needless to say, it went over big! What I didn't expect, however, was the surfacing of my own childhood giddiness: As I read the book, I returned back to a muggy night where flashing lights pierced the dark skies and distant sounds of children's cries enticed us toward the midway. To where the smells of popcorn and fried dough and vomit filled the air. To where a grinning man heckled all the passer-byes until a bell went off- another prize! To where the roller coaster, tilt-a-whirl and Ferris wheel made our stomachs do back flips. To where there was no need for anything but laughter.

Spinner- thank you for allowing me to remember a kinder time!

White Southerners who fought for the Union are the neglected heroes of the Civil War. Their Northern comrades could return home to a heroes' welcome. Their Confederate foes went home to lick their wounds and glorify their "Lost Cause." Soldiers of the "Colored" regiments are getting their due. But most people have bought the lie that the South and the Confederacy were synonymous.

The South has countless Confederate memorials. Where are the memorials for the brave men who fought for their country instead of being seduced by the lies of the Slave Power?

I purchased a copy of this book soon after it was published.

Everyone knows some Southerners faught for the North. We have men like Admiral David Glasgow Faragut. We have West Virginia. But it turns out there is a lot more to the Southerners who sided with the North.

This book is their story. Comprehensively and state by state the author gives us their story. In addition to individuals serving in Northern state units except for South Carolina every single seceeding state contributed units to LIncoln's army. The South had no comperable formations. Yes, they had regiments from from the slave states that didn't seceed, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri but no regiments from Pennsylvania, New York or New Jersey or any other.

This book also gives us a basic idea on what kind of men they were. For the most part they were hardly any different from those who faught for the South.

A most interesting read.

Current's book fills a little known niche within the body of knowledge of the American Civil War. It addresses union regiments and union loyalists, from Southern states, who fought for the north. Current reviews the bidding on a state-by-state basis addressing union support in each area. One outcome of this union support was the creation of the state of West Virginia, but Current also addresses the strong pro-union regions of the mountainous areas of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas. It also reviews unionist support in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. The book ends with a review of the loyalists' contribution (no worse, nor better than northern units).

Two things that struck me: first that there was more Union support than is popularly believed, and the Confederate authorities had to put considerable effort into controling their own populations. Second, it seems odd to have Confederate rebels become quite upset about rebels (or tories as they called them) in their own midst.

After getting stationed in Georgia back in 1997, I became interested in the cause of the Southern Unionists. As a CivWar reenactor I found this subject to be on one hand totally verbotten for polite fireside conversation. On the other, some interest but little information. Thank God over the last few years several books have come out to help fill that info gap. The South vs The South(poorest of the group), Lincoln's Loyalists, and Guerillas, Unionists,& Violence On the Confederate Homefront(very good!) have done alot for these forgotten souls. The best remains Lincoln's Loyalists, my orginal was permantly borrowed by a "rebel" buddy and passed about throughout the greyback community. Finally I've found another copy! Even for hardcore seesch, this book is a must read for anyone studying this sad chapter of our nations history.

Most readers will probably be astonished to learn how extensive support for the Union was among white southerners during the Civil War. The author provides a detailed, state-by-state description of organized military units from the southern states that fought for the Union. A final chapter summarizes the statistics -- something that I found particularly helpful. I hope that many southerners will read this book and be inspired to seek out their own Loyal ancestors. This chapter of southern history desperately needs to be better known.

A fascinating book! I particularly appreciate the way the author integrates Du Pont's human strengths and frailties with the bureaucratic, logistical, and armament systems of the time. He provided just enough background information on Du Pont's family, peers, and related events for readers to appreciate their impact without being taken off track. Ultimately the reader sees the guy as very much a real man with skills, challenges, successes and failures that are just as relevant today as 150 years ago. (Anyone who doubts the relevance of history to modern events need only read this book.) Finally, I greatly enjoyed learning about the technological advances of the day in the context of the times. It's easy for us today to look back at the Civil War as being an "old-style war" like that of 1812, but in reading Weddle's book I was enlightened to the fact that from a technological attitudes standpoint, the Civil War was much more of a "modern" war than I had previously realized. What kid isn't fascinated by the battle of the Monitor and the Virginia (Merrimack), for example? In history books that event is always presented as an isolated incident, but thanks to this book I now realize that steam-powered vessels and ironclads were the wonder weapons of their day -- they captured the public imagination (and those of military planners) just as tanks, jets, and nuclear weapons have in more recent times. It has been a truly delightful read and I've learned a lot. Incredible the peers Du Pont rubbed elbows with at the time -- legendary heroes like Stephen Decatur and Matthew Perry. If you like history, you will love this book. Not only does it offer fascinating facts and insights into a man and his times, but it reads like a novel. Don't miss it!

Great read! Easy, smooth flowing syntax and text. Almost reads like a novel. A nice mixture of text, maps, and images. Substantial research has brought together the personal man as well as the public man and his concern for United States protection and the well being of his naval forces.
Coming from a naval family, I was very interested in seeing the evolving history of the US Navy. I was also interested to follow the interaction of husband and wife and her influence on DuPont. Highly recommend this book.

Kevin Weddle has blazed new trails in this long-overdue look at one of the U.S. Navy's most important but little-known leaders. He has tapped into the extensive resources of the Du Pont family to capture the essence of a complex figure who stood tall at the cusp of a critical period of American history. The book is a quick read and Samuel Francis Du Pont's story is told with balance, style, and accuracy.
The best biographies hold relevance for for present and future leaders - and this one is no exception. Du Pont plays key roles as mariner, technological innovator, personnel reformer, diplomat, strategist, combat commander, and family man. Through it all, he remains a man of steadfast principle.
Kevin Weddle has spun a superb yarn and created an impressive work that shines a contemporary lamp on a long-neglected giant of the U.S. Navy. This volume is a worthy addition to the library of those with an interest in naval history, the Civil War, or leadership.

Before I read this book, I didn't know alot about this period of our nation's history. What I especially enjoyed was learning about Samual DuPont's personal life and how it affected some of his decisions in war time. I can now say I have learned something and was entertained in the meantime.

For those of you who eagerly await the one book on Civil War naval history for every fifty released concerning the land war, you will not be disappointed. Not only is this book an exceptional biography of Admiral Du Pont, but it also provides a thorough look at the Navy during the service's formative years prior to the Civil War. This is possible because Du Pont's influence proved instrumental during this period; he authored the first comprehensive national maritime strategy (which provided guidance for transforming the Navy from a coastal defense force into a "Blue Water" service with offensive capability), as well as catalyzed much-needed personnel reform. Du Pont's at-sea adventures in the Mexican War and during a hazardous voyage to the Far East also make for great reading. What sets this book apart from any good biography, however, is the insightful discussion of civil-military friction and ill-conceived reliance on technology that characterize Du Pont's 1863 attack on Charleston, SC. Du Pont was against this operation (believing it to be an unnecessary peripheral enterprise that would siphon off valuable - and limited - resources from the all-important blockade), but Lincoln, Navy Secretary Welles, and Assistant Secretary Fox all though the capture of Charleston had important symbolic value. Since civilian leadership sets policy and related strategic objectives, Du Pont saluted smartly and began planning the operation. Friction arose when the admiral tried to persuade Welles and Fox that Charleston could only be captured via a joint Army-Navy operation. Welles and Fox (demonstrating blatant service parochialism) favored an all-Navy operation, and instructed Du Pont to proceed without Army assistance. Despite evidence to the contrary (Drewry's Bluff, VA and Fort McAllister, GA), Welles and Fox were convinced that monitor ironclads alone could destroy Charleston's forts and capture the city; as a result, they confidently assured Lincoln that the monitor technology would prevail. Of course, Du Pont was correct and the operation tragically ended in failure. Civil-military friction and technology as a military panacea are familiar themes throughout American military history - and we see them still in the current global war on terrorism. Colonel Weddle, therefore, does the reader a great service by providing such a thought-provoking discussion and analysis of these crucial issues. Superbly written, thoroughly researched, and well organized, this book was a pleasure to read and I highly recommend it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

William Lee Miller is one of the most readable and thoughtful of modern American historians. His utterly captivating "Arguing About Slavery," concerning John Quincy Adams' battle against the Gag Rule in Congress, made me a committed fan of both Adams and Miller. Miller followed with "Lincoln's Virtues," a meditation on the decency and moral character of Lincoln that focussed mainly on his life before 1861.

"President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman," is a delight. As the title reflects, this volume deals with Lincoln's years as President. Miller is well-versed in the vast reaches of Lincoln scholarship. Unlike the best-selling "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kerns Goodwin, however, Miller actually provides new and revelatory insights that further enhance Lincoln's reputation. Of the current coterie of authors on Lincoln, I have yet to find one who has spent the time Miller does on addressing the substance of Lincoln's critical July 4, 1861 message to Congress, where Lincoln denounced the "farcical" pretence of secession and demolished the myth of state sovereignty as he asked Congress for money and men to fight a war that had become much fiercer than almost anyone had imagined. Douglas Wilson, in "Lincoln's Sword," provides an excellent and in-depth discussion of the drafting of this document but he skirts much of the real substance - which remains controversial in some quarters. Miller shows how Lincoln carefully maneuvered between Union and emancipation. He does not avoid controversy. The message to Congress emerges as a central document in Lincoln's development and in the ongoing debate over "states' rights."

One intriguing episode Miller describes concerns the cashiering of Major John J. Key, who was the brother of one of General McClellan's top aides. David Herbert Donald merely asserts, without attribution, that McClellan was not disloyal. The question is not so lightly to be disposed of. According to Major Key's "silly treasonable talk" (in Lincon's phrase), the "game" was to leave both the Union and Confederate armies in the field until they were exhausted, making compromise inevitable and thereby saving slavery. McClellan is also quoted as asserting his distinct preference for a principled, Christian war that would leave inviolate Confederates' property rights - including their "rights" in slaves. While there is no direct evidence of McClellan's disloyalty, certainly these facts, coupled with his notorious reluctance to fight, his constant insistence that he was drastically outnumbered when he was often in charge of superior numbers himself, and his platform when he ran against Lincoln for President in 1864, suggest the need to consider that McClellan's agenda as a general was indeed to subvert the war effort and let slavery prevail. The fact that Major Key became a candidate for clemency shortly after Lincoln sacked him only makes Miller's point more acutely: Lincoln refused to reinstate Key.

Miller also gives some substantial scope to the accounts of how much time Lincoln spent reviewing charges against Union soliders who had been sentenced to die, and how his reputation for leniency misses the fact that he did indeed allow executions to proceed when they were warranted. One fascinating case concerns an American officer who was apprehended in the act of transporting more than 800 slaves from Africa. A Republican prosecutor pursued the case aggressively with the result that this man became the first, last, and only slave-trader in all of American history to be executed under American law. Lincoln refused to commute the sentence to life, despite the tears of the prospective widow and child and the intervention of many worthy citizens - 11,000 at least - on behalf of the condemned man.

This volume is not a comprehensive history or biography. While it is more than an extended scholarly essay or meditation on our greatest President, in many respects it reads like one. Miller's scholarship is substantial and he has a fine set of notes, not referenced in the text. They are arranged in the back according to the page number in the main text where the reference arises. The result is a book a lay-person can read for sheer pleasure, or which specialists can peruse for new nuggets. Miller is a master prose stylist, not impervious to humor. And, not unlike his subject, he presents powerful ideas simply. Though the story has been told a myriad of times, it gains new richness, depth and subtlety from Miller's telling of it, his selection of different issues to highlight, and his juxtaposition of materials. I have already gone back to re-read portions of this excellent book. I will again, and soon.

Will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in our greatest president and his time in office. Professor Miller is a wonderful master of his subject.

Abraham Lincoln is rightfully remembered here for the actions he took during the short time he actually served in the White House. This is not a book about Mr. Lincoln's youth, his career in Illinois, or his family life. How this statesman balanced power, people, and ethics in reaching his twin noble objectives is laid out in a most compelling way by William Lee Miller.

(I especially found interesting the material presented on President Lincoln's use of the pardoning power.)

Purchase this book for yourself, or a friend who may question why the world still celebrates a politician who was born almost two hundred years ago.

First off , Miller writes well. Very well. The voice is conversational. And the insights flow: how Lincoln saw the war as a transcedent matter(after all the South withdrew from the union because they lost an election; no fundanmental rights were infringed;how can any republican government survive that?); the way Lincoln mixed mercy, strategically used, with a firmness to do anything(and anything covered a lot of ground for Lincoln) within his power to save the idea of a republican government; how he never let it be about him and his needs, but always about the greater needs of the cause he served( the writing on how he dealt with McClellan ,and the border states is superb; makes you wish our current politicans had more of the stuff of which Lincoln was made). A must read for anyone interested in the war and, more importantly, on what makes a great leader, political or otherwise.

This is a well written book and a must read follow up to the author's "Lincoln's Virtues". The book delves into Lincoln as he faces the many challanges as President and how his maturing as a politician and his moral beliefs affected that presidency. More than a "backcountry" political figure, Lincoln proves himself as one of our great leaders if not the greatest leader of all time. Any one truly interested in Abraham Lincoln should include both William Miller's "President Lincoln, the Duty of a Statesman" and "Lincoln's Virtues" as required reading.

Wlliam Lee Miller's new book on US President Abraham Lincoln focuses entirely on the 1861-1865 period when Lincoln was chief executive and the nation suffered through a horrendous Civil War. Miller is an eloquent author and an expert on Lincoln. His book is a combination of narrative laced with a detailed study of several of the moral issues the Kentucky railsplitter faced in office. Among these Gordian Knot problems upon which Lincoln had to decide were:
1. Whether to supply Fort Sumter by sea or allow the Charleston SC.fort to be surrendered to the new Confederate government without a shot being fired? Lincoln had promised to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution in his inaugural address on March 4, 1861. He believed the President of the United States should defend our territory so refused to give up on Sumter. The Confederates fired on the fort leading to a declaration of war with the United States. The Civil War would cost over
600,000 lives-2/3 of them because of disease and insanitary conditions.
2. Lincoln made the decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in Confederate controlled areas as of January 1, 1863. As a wily politician this act did not apply to slaves held in Union held but slave states. All African-Americans in bondage would be freed by the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution following the great emancipator's death
by assassination on April 15, 1865.
3. Miller cites several examples of Lincoln's mercy to soldiers convicted by court martial. He could be tough refusing to save the life of Nathaniel Gordon a slave ship owner and a man who shot a white officer leading a parade of black soldiers in Norfolk, Va. Lincoln was a kind and merciful man who was without hubris or self-glorification.
4. Lincoln showed mercy to most of the Indians who had been involved in the war launched against white settlers in Minnesota in 1863.
5. Lincoln was a great war leader getting rid of poor generals such as George McClellan and choosing fighters like Grant, Sherman and Sheridan to lead the north to victory. He favored a tolerant policy to the South following the war. Unfortunately he died before Reconstruction which proved to be harsh under Andrew Johnson.
6. The Civil War, says Miller, was not total war as civilians were not targeted for death although their property was destoyed by armies. This especially occurred during Sherman's March to the Sea.
7. Lincoln expressed the highest aspirations of republican government in his great speeches. He was in favor of the common person and had no tolerance for rulership by an aristocratic elite.
Lincoln saw his purpose as President to be dominated by two major themes: 1. The preservation of the United States governed by the Constitution 2. The elimination of chattel slavery and the granting of citizenship to the four million Africa-Americans who lived in America. Lincoln was not a racist but a friend of blacks. He welcomed the black leader Frederick Douglass to the White House.
William Lee Miller's book should be required reading in any course dealing with the American Civil War, Presidential Leadership or the life of Lincoln. This great and good man shows us that morality in high office can be practiced by a skillful politician.
This books should be read in tandem with Miller's earlier book on Lincoln's virtues which takes our sixteenth president through his career up until election as President of the United States.
A book to treasure!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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."