2 comments about Holland's Life of Abraham Lincoln.

1. In 1866 Abraham Lincoln was far from the icon of American leadership and democracy that he later became, but he was already in the process of becoming. That was in no small measure because of the work of Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881), whose "Life of Abraham Lincoln" was the first full-scale post-assassination biography of Lincoln and a pathmarker that fundamentally shaped the contours of Lincolnia. Published less than a year after Lincoln?s death, Holland told the now well-worn stories of young Lincoln earning his first silver dollar as a rail-splitter, about his repayment for a ruined book, about the millhorse?s kick to his head, about his wrestling match with Jack Armstrong, and about the fabled Lincoln sense of humor and wit. Always, Holland wrote in an accessible, homey manner about Lincoln the man and the patriot, about Lincoln the husband and father, and about Lincoln the moral leader of a nation at war.

   For example, Holland asserted repeatedly in this biography that Lincoln had been an opponent of slavery his entire life and had always planned for emancipation. A debatable contention at best, but one that certainly hearkened back to the moral vision expressed in the Declaration of Independence penned nearly a century earlier. The assertion certainly fixed the image of the man as a champion of the highest ideals of the republic. Also debatable, and certainly it was roundly attacked at the time by several of Lincoln?s associates, was Holland?s assertion that Lincoln was the very model of a Christian leader. Such longtime associates as William Herndon condemned Holland?s declaration of Lincoln?s religious ideals as bogus.

   Holland based his biography on relatively extensive interviews with those who knew Lincoln and on the written materials then readily available. Accordingly, there is a depth of coverage not present in many of the other early Lincoln biographies. At the same time, Holland was essentially Lincoln?s Parson Weems, making a myth of the fallen leader second to only that accorded George Washington. As Allen C. Guelzo notes in an excellent introduction to the volume, Holland engaged in oversentimentality, drawing overt morals from the life and career of Lincoln. Holland?s Lincoln, as Guelzo states, ?was unapologetically the champion of ?strength and moderation? and the opposition, whether from John Charles Fr?mont or Clement Vallandigham, was ?irresponsible? or ?treasonable?? (pp. viii-ix). Because of these weaknesses, most modern Lincoln scholars have dismissed Holland?s biography without serious consideration.

   As a study in the process of myth-making, however, this book is important. Its availability in this reprint edition may provide grist for future studies. As such it is a welcome addition to historical literature.




2. This is probably the best early biography of Lincoln, produced by someone who collected information from persons who knew Lincoln before and during the White House years. The book was produced before the President was surrounded by a godlike aura, and presents the man as Americans of his time wanted to remember him. His last law partner William H. Herndon found the portrayal too pretty, but it pleased the reading public.

No comments about The Presidency in American Politics.

No comments about Major McKinley: William McKinley & the Civil War.

5 comments about JFK: Reckless Youth.

1. JFK RECKLESS YOUTH has only one drawback: It covers only the part of his life up to his election to Congress. Hamilton has promised two more volumes, but they have so far not appeared. That said, it is the only negative that can be said for this remarkable volume, for my money the best JFK bio anywhere (including the new but hardly impressive JFK: AN UNFINISHED LIFE by Robert Dallek). There isn't an aspect of Kennedy's life that goes unexplored. Hamilton, however, did not have the access to JFK's medical records that Dallek did -- therefore he probably did not realize how very serious JFK's health issues were. (Of course, he is writing about JFK's early life, when he was obviously a lot healthier than he was later.)

   What is made painfully clear here is that JFK became president not because of his parents, but frankly, in spite of them. It was the force of his intellect and personality, more than his father's money, that made him who he was. Hamilton spends a lot of time in comparisons between Joe Jr. (the heir apparent) and Jack, the second son. According to him, Joe Jr. was ponderous, prejudiced, hardworking but abrasive and often nasty, and in general, simply did not attract people to him as Jack did. Jack, on the other hand, for all his natural rebelliousness (almost certainly fed by his parents' endless hectoring and marital issues), had enormous charm, warmth and endless humor. Hamilton even uncovers evidence of a surprisingly tender heart and his attempts to hide his concern for his friends with sarcasm and wit. His friends note that he constantly looked for new friendships and never lost a friend, even when the friends treated him with less than kindness and respect. He was loyal to a fault.

   Hamilton does reserve tremendous ire (and who can blame him?) for JFK's parents, two of really the most awful parents it's possible to imagine. Rose was a mother who constantly went off and left her children with the help, never home even when her oldest children were babies, and was never, never affectionate or even perhaps very interested in them, due to her unending though silent opposition to her husband's abuse and philandering. While she inspected them daily for missing buttons or loose threads, she was completely uninvolved in their interests, games and problems. Their father Joe was, as Hamilton makes clear, good at only one thing: manipulating stocks in order to steal himself a fortune. Every other thing he tried, including banking, shipping, movies, politics and diplomacy, was a failure. (Joe was so unscrupulous that even during his stint as Ambassador to the Court of St. James, he had people buying stocks he had inside information about. It says something that when FDR appointed him the first chairman of the newly formed Securities and Exchange Commission, and FDR's cabinet protested vigorously, FDR's answer was, "Set a thief to catch a thief.") What made Joe rather insidious (and this only in comparison to Rose) is that if he did have a good point, it was his genuine love for his children, misguided as his childrearing experience was. Unfortunately, he taught them to win at any cost and that women were to be treated with contempt and used like tissue. But because he expressed affection and care for them, even dropping his own work schedule to appear at their schools when Rose wrote letters but never bothered to visit her sons even when Jack was deathly ill in boarding school, Joe comes off as, ironically, the much better parent. He was loving and affectionate, though his affection came with a price: That they think as he thought and do as he did, which Jack simply rebelled against.

   Hamilton has to be commended for his sense of balance. While never shirking his responsibility to point out Jack's flaws, he is careful also to show from where they sprang -- the terrible, dysfunctional union of his parents and their awful sense of what raising a family meant. The children were socially isolated (partially because of his parents' desperation to enter Boston's WASP society while being Irish Catholics themselves), turning to each other for comfort and thus becoming close, but then separated when Rose decided she couldn't handle them anymore and sent them to boarding school, some as young as age eight.

   There is so much in this book that has value, but what I personally appreciate the most is Hamilton's constant underlying (though silent) thesis that Jack's gifts were so many that had he been born to different parents, he still would have been remarkably successful, yet probably been a less tormented and far less complex personality. For Hamilton sees his sexual yearnings as nothing less than looking for the love he missed in his mother, yet unable to express his need for it because of her coldness during his formative years and what that coldness did to his ability to express and receive affection.

   I could go on and go (actually, I have), but I do heartily recommend this. It's an absorbing read about the formation of a remarkable and pivotal personality in American history. I'd love to see the next volume -- imagine what he'd do with the marriage of Jack and Jackie? -- but must wait till he gets there. Meanwhile, this volume is a five-star, fifty-carat gem. Don't miss it.




2. Anyone who truly loves John Kennedy (as I do) owes it to themselves to delve deeper into the formation of the character of this fabulously flawed human being. Nigel Hamilton's minutely-detailed "JFK: Reckless Youth," which recounts Kennedy's early through his first run for Congress, is one helluva place to start.
   
   The myth of Camelot has suffered death by a thousand cuts -- shredded by the disclosure of presidential affairs, murder plots and political machinations. But while other celebrities have generated renewed interest and sympathy by openly airing dirt and scandal, the Kennedys have endlessly recycled the Camelot myth of the heroic young president slain before his time. Hamilton's book is the antidote to this pious tripe, serving up a John Kennedy fighting against (and sometimes embracing) forces that should have destroyed him. Young John Kennedy suffered from a mystery ailment that landed him in the hospital countless times. He courted disaster and scandal with a string of amours. He chose to fight the Japanese on a "plywood coffin" known as a PT boat rather than sit out the war in a safer place. He was saddled with a father whose pre-WWII appeasement policies undercut the national interest. Kennedy, from a young age, was one familiar with the knife's edge between life and death, learning to skate the blade with grace and aplomb. Hamilton exhaustively chronicles these episodes using interview material and an extraordinary trove of personal letters to and from Kennedy himself.
   
   It's a shame that the Kennedy family blocked Hamilton's access to additional JFK material. The next volumes would no doubt have shown the moral excesses and almost suicidal risk-taking increasing as JFK grew older. While this material might have threatened the maudlin serenity of Camelot, I would have welcomed the change. Paradoxically, my love and admiration for John Kennedy did not wane as I read the incredible details of his life. Instead, I was amazed that such an extraordinary, compassionate and visionary man arose from the chaos of a life lived as a constant roll of the dice.



3. Our fascination with JFK continues. Even now, there are still aspects of his life and career which remain hidden from public view.
   
   This book relies on meticulous research and avoids speculation. It acquaints us with a brutal and psychotically competitive family, an aloof and cold mother of too many children who accomodates her husband's self-centeredness by a peculiarly Catholic form of emotional abandonment. This remove, however, strikes her own children as collateral damage from her intended assault on her husband.
   
   A family of highly competitive people, with singular ambition. The theory is not hard to establish: the ambition is to attain mom's love (which is unattainable) and to impress dad.
   
   The story is archetypal of American in the mid-20th century. We achieved so much because of qualities of competition, ruthlessness and self-interest. We also learned to worship glamour and celebrity. Wasn't Kennedy the best-looking president by far?
   
   I never understood him better than after reading this book. I also believe that he was addicted to sex, and that we knew way too little about how to treat that addiction back then.



4. Excellent book...Still waiting for Mr. Hamilton to come out with his second volume. I highly recommend the movie starring Patrick Dempsey. Mr. Hamilton we are still waiting for volume 2...



5. In the description of this book it says, "-a book that will astonish, entertain, and inform all those interesed in the life of America's thirty-sixth president." John F. Kennedy was the 35th president not the 36th. I was doing a report on JFK and when i saw this i decided i obviously should not use this book!

No comments about People Who Made History - John F. Kennedy (hardcover edition) (People Who Made History).

No comments about John F. Kennedy In His Own Words.

No comments about Rosalynn Carter: Equal Partner in the White House (Modern First Ladies).

No comments about Stalin and Stalinism (Lancaster Pamphlets).

No comments about Abraham Lincoln: A History (With John G. Nicolay).

3 comments about Stand Tall.

1. This book was recommended to me by friends in Michigan and it should be on everyone's bookshelf. Ike McKinnon's story is one of perseverence, dedication, and an incredible ability to remain above the fray and disease of society. It's pure inspiration to read about his life and how he rose above everything, not letting himself become tainted, to help people, help clean up the city of Detroit, and help straighten out its police department. It's motivational, inspiring, and Oprah should know about it!



2. I recommend this wonderful book for anybody who wants to become a police officer, especially African Americans and other minorities interested in this field. Dr. McKinnon does an excellent job with expressing his feelings about his experiences with the Detroit Police Department, racism, and why it was important for him to join the Detroit Police Department. Dr. McKinnon's book is a true defition of the American dream (especially for minorities) and I guarantee this book will inspire you to follow your dreams regardless of how tough it gets! I've met Dr. McKinnon once and I hope to meet him again so he can autograph my book. Get your copy today!



3. "Stand Tall" was probably the most self-serving autobiography I've ever read. On every other page of the book, McKinnon heroically battles racism. Somehow, with the institutional racism rampant in the Detroit Police Department, McKinnon manages to work as a patrol officer for only about 2 years. As a matter of fact, only about 20 pages of the book are dedicated to his patrol career.

   One telling story involved McKinnon chasing a man who ran away from a stolen car. McKinnon chases the man into an apartment building, and through the door of an apartment. The next thing he knows, he's staring down the barrels of automatic weapons being wielded by a nest of Black Panthers. McKinnon grabs his prisoner and backs out of this Mexican standoff to admonitions of "Be cool man.." from the leader of the Panthers. When he gets outside, a bunch of neighbors come out of their houses and form a protective circle around McKinnon and the prisoner to escort them out of harm's way. Touching. However, what the book doesn't address is what McKinnon did about the group of dangerous men armed with automatic weapons who just pointed them at a police officer! He probably had no case on the guy who ran away from the stolen car (he wasn't driving) but it looks like he chose to take THAT guy to jail rather than call in reinforcements to arrest a bunch of armed and dangerous felony suspects! Later in the book, McKinnon talks about a cop who was killed by the Black Panthers. I had to wonder if the Panther who killed him was one of the guys McKinnon let go.

   Within 2 years of being hired, McKinnon is assigned to a "gravy" job at Recruiting. Shortly after that, he's working directly for the mayor. Thus begins his meteoric rise to the top. "Stand Tall" is a cream-puff of a book that offers a detailed look at every positive aspect of McKinnon's career. It doesn't even pay lip service to any of the negative aspects that could conceivably cause him to be viewed in a negative light. For instance; why did McKinnon quit as chief of police in the middle of his friend and "homey" (his words, not mine) Dennis Archer's term as mayor? Did he just wake up one day and decide "Well, it's time for me to do something else. I think I'll bail out on Homey in the middle of his term." Or was there another reason? I guess we'll have to wait for someone else's biography to learn the answer to that one.

   The Detroit Police Department has a long-standing practice of arresting witnesses to crimes, especially homicides, with no probable cause that they did anything wrong, in order to intimidate them into providing information that they would not otherwise provide. Earlier in his career, McKinnon takes a dim view of arresting people in the absence of probable cause. However, as Chief, he lets the practice continue. Could it be that he's willing to sanction the violation of citizens' constitutional rights if it would help raise the DPD's dismally low clearance rate for homicides? I don't know, he never addresses the issue.

   McKinnon takes credit for everything he possibly can with virtually no mention of the efforts of his subordinates. The local media plays a bigger part in the book than the people who back him up as chief.

   McKinnon appears to take credit for personally solving the Nancy Kerrigan case. After the figure skater is bopped on the knee, Ike eventually asks her father where she is. He valiantly checks the pool in case the bad guys try to drown her, and the outside of the Westin Hotel in case someone tries to push her off a steep incline. He finally finds her in the last place he looks (her hotel room). McKinnon refers to the Kerrigan case as "an international story, the likes of which Detroit has never seen". Detroit had the Collingwood massacre of Purple Gang members, a nationally televised beating of suburban women by Detroit residents at the International Fireworks downtown, a former police chief who embezzled millions, status as "murder capitol" for several years, but a figure skater who gets assaulted is a story the likes of which the city has never seen? Sure.

   McKinnon leaves no truth unadulterated in his quest for hyperbole and melodrama. He describes the Rodney King beating as a case where police officers beat King while he was on the ground with a chain around his neck. A chain around his neck? He describes Detroit's own "Rodney King" incident as a situation where Malice Green was beaten by police officers and died right there in the street. Also not true. It's a point of pride with him that he saw to it that his officers were issued pepper spray after the Malice Green incident. Pretty proactive of Dr. McKinnon to wait until someone dies to equip his officers with something that other officers all over the state have had for years. I eagerly await "Stand Tall Part Deux" to read "the rest of the story".