No comments about The Founding Fathers (The American Presidents).

No comments about George Washington: Foundation of Presidential Leadership and Character.

No comments about El Neron del Siglo XXI: George W. Bush, Presidente.

2 comments about Rare Personal Accounts of Abraham Lincoln.

1. This was a very intersting book! It contains letters that invidivuals have written about Abraham Lincoln that met or knew him personally. If only someone would build a time machine!



2. One of the satisfactions of being so involved in reading and reviewing books is that I get to meet some fascinating people with some truly wonderful books. Sure, there is some dross, too. However, because of what I like to read and review I avoid most of the stuff I would hate. This is a very special book that we came amazingly close to never having at all.
   
   By a very unlikely set of circumstances I happened to meet one of the editors of this book. We fell into a conversation about reading history and he told me about this book. It turns out that his brother was an avid collector of historical memorabilia, some of it amazingly valuable. As he was caring for his brother's estate there was a flood in the basement where this manuscript was stored. They were busy throwing away a lot of stuff that was ruined and material that seemed to have no value. Something told him to take a closer look at the books that were the manuscript of this book. He soon realized what a treasure it is.
   
   The manuscript was put together in the first couple of decades of the Twentieth Century when some of those who had seen Lincoln were still alive. John E. Boos was an avid autograph collector, a devotee of Abraham Lincoln and the soldiers who fought in the Civil War. His text for the book does not give a complete transcript of each item he collected, but does talk about the items and provides some context for the items. Some get more extensive treatment than others. The Boos manuscript is NOT a finished or even polished text, but that isn't at all important. What is important is that the editors have not only included the Boos text, but PHOTOCOPIES of the original documents. We can see the handwritten documents and glean all kinds of interesting information from them.
   
   For example, there are many accounts of the Lincoln-Douglass debates from people who attended one or the other of them. I learned that Lincoln was dressed more casually than Douglass. Lincoln wore Kentucky jeans and could have used a haircut in at least one of the debates. Another recounts Lincoln wearing a long duster coat. Douglass is remembered by one has having worn a blue swallowtail coat with a shirtfront stained with tobacco juice. He noted that Douglass liked to drink and looked like he had come to the debate looking as if it were the morning after the night before. Another fascinating detail was how Lincoln would bend his knees and the quickly rise to his full height to emphasize a point.
   
   There are also many accounts of soldiers and officers who served in the Civil War. Getting information on the battles in which they fought, their wounds, and their lives after the war is all quite interesting. It seems to me that the material in this book would be of interest to historians and history buffs interested in Lincoln and the Civil War. If there is any new nugget of information provided in this manuscript it could be quite valuable to our understanding in reconstructing various events. Given the attention any new scrap of information about Lincoln gets, the accounts presented in this book would seem to me to deserve careful examination.
   
   Granted these folks were all aged when they gave these accounts. Everything they say should be checked for plausibility, but it sure reads as if it were true. One person admits being unsure if one of their memories is something he experienced or something he read about or from a photograph he had seen. This is always the problem with accounts taken decades after the events. I do think that going through these accounts is more like looking at a site of possible gemstones rather than panning for gold. John Boos has done all the collection. Some might be quartz, others might be glass, but there just might be a diamond or two that can really help our understanding of events. In any case, they are all interesting. Even just looking at the handwriting from a century ago is fascinating. Some historian should not only look this over in book form, but contact the editors and make sure that these manuscripts and original documents are properly preserved for future generations.
   
   Of course, I am strongly recommending this book.

No comments about The Re Lincoln: A Portrait (1922).

No comments about Jefferson: A Monticello Sampler.

No comments about The Life Of Napoleon Buonaparte V3.

2 comments about Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy Mystique.

1. Absolutely the most brillant piece of histo-drama ever written on the political affairs of men and their madness.



2. Absolutely the most brillant piece of histo-drama ever written on the political affairs of men and their madness.

No comments about Winston Churchill : The Greatest Briton.

No comments about Papers of John Adams, Volume 14, 27 October 1782 - 31 May 1783 (Adams Papers).