A. Lincoln: A Biography

A.Lincoln : A Biography – Ronald C. White

I read this on a Kindle. According to Amazon, this thing is 816 pages. It certainly didn’t feel that way.  If I had to guess upon completion, I would have guessed about half of that.  That really is a compliment. Essentially I’m saying that book was a fast read because it was so engrossing.  The other random thought I had was that this book was written in 2009, and I’m curious to know if the public really “needed” another biography of Abraham Lincoln.  Has there really been that much new information uncovered that would warrant another retrospective volume?  Whatever the reason, this was the first, and so far only, biography that I’ve read on Abraham Lincoln, and as mentioned, I thought it was very strong.

Now, I’ve read other books that focused on certain aspects of his life, so I felt like I had a very strong background of the man, and can’t really say I learned that much new about him. So maybe this a book for the novice as opposed to someone who’s read extensively about the man.

Like many presidential biographies, about half of this book focuses solely on his presidency.  When one looks at his presidency, there wasn’t really anything of relevance to discuss other than the American Civil War. So you could make the argument that half of this book felt like a book on the Civil War, but again, that doesn’t mean that the experience doesn’t have rewards. There’s also quite a bit of reference (in thought and deed) to the Emancipation Proclamation, but I tend to read the two as very synonymous.  Our history tells us that the Civil War wasn’t “about” slavery, but I can’t help but think this statement is a bit misleading.

I was surprised that this book omitted a lot about the man. Very little of his family is mentioned. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but for a father who lost two sons prematurely and had a wife that was quite the eccentric made me feel as though there was a lot missing here.  His assassination is only briefly covered as well. Maybe because there have been entire books written about the event is what caused the author to decide that such events weren’t worth repeating.

The one topic that did seem to be discussed frequently was Abraham Lincoln’s journey of faith. The author presumes that the young Lincoln was more of questioner with many skeptical tendencies. As he got older, he seemed to become much more connected with his Christian faith. Sure, the man evokes God a lot in his speeches, but so do 99% of all the politicians. The author, though, spends considerable amount of time arguing (persuasively) that Lincoln’s changes in his beliefs are quite genuine. Again, though, I didn’t really learn anything new. I just felt the author spent quite a bit of book space to the topic.

I also felt this was a very easy, interesting read. One not need a PhD in English to appreciate it. I’m not sure how it stacks up against volumes by the likes of Carl Sandburg or David Herbert Donald, but this one definitely is well written and very enjoyable. Perhaps a student in high school would also find this book rewarding and somewhat “easy”?  Very agreeable.

The Collectors

The Collectors - David Baldacci

It seems that David Baldacci writes about 2 or 3 books per year.  I would suggest that he limit his concentration and output to only 1 per year instead. This would cause him to focus on one story and make it a really good story. Baldacci has written some very good books. He’s also wrote some that were atrocious. This one is mostly good, but like many of Baldacci’s rushed output, it contains too many moments that makes the average reader groan. Baldacci doesn’t seem to work hard enough when some of his characters find themselves in dire straits. And the way his characters get out of these situations are just ridiculous. This is a fault in many of his books, and these instances happen in this story far too often.

Let’s see: We have some folks who are chasing some suspicious characters through the streets of Washington D.C., and they JUST HAPPEN to stumble onto a novelty store, so they can quickly go in and buy fake FBI badges and jackets.   We then have a lady who is being sexually harassed at a restaurant who JUST HAPPENS to notice a table of accountants that “look like” they belong in the mafia, so she “just happens” to accost these strangers and ask them to play the part of “tough guys” for her.   And (my favorite) we meet a hooker who JUST HAPPENS to recollect when she went through a john’s pants several weeks prior, found he had two IDs, and memorized the name on the IDs.  Why would she even do this? What exactly was her motivation?  None, really. Baldacci just couldn’t think of a better way to move the story forward. Apparently, the author never stopped to realize how ridiculous it is that she could remember this event with such alacrity. 

There’s also a few instances where people who are kidnapped and captured, to be killed later, manage to miraculously escape after only a chapter. They seem to not be effected by the event in the least.  Again, the author just needs to slow down here a bit and give these situations a bit more care.  He can do better.

This is the second “Camel Club” book. The plot is pretty inconsequential to describe in much detail.  It’s Washington D.C., suspicious killings are happening, and Oliver Stone (not the real one, he’s the leader of the Camel Club) and his cronies are out to uncover the truth.  Stone is an excellent protagonist. Unfortunately, the other members of The Camel Club come across as a bunch of flakey boobs, but the story moves quite nicely.

We also meet the “new” member of the Camel Club, Annabelle. Her introduction and initiation to the team is actually quite a story in itself, and at times, I felt I was reading two different novels.  There was a bit too much emphasis placed on how she “arrived” at the Camel Club. Sadly, her story isn’t “finished” in this book – it continues in subsequent Camel Club affairs.

So overall a good story, as long as you can stomach some of the absurd details.

Wilson

Wilson - by A.Scott Berg

It is definitely a skill to write a very good 800+ page biography about a man that I didn’t find to be particularly interesting. I really enjoyed this book, but I really have no desire to learn anything more about former president Woodrow Wilson. His life just didn’t really seem that exciting to me.

Most remember him as commander in chief during World War I (it’s now been 100 years since the U.S. entered the war as I write this review). This book paints him in a very favorable light during the Peace Treaty that eventually ended the conflict a year later, and Wilson’s attempt to bring the U.S. into the League of Nations. Ultimately, he failed. Politics never changes.

The majority of the book covers this period, not surprisingly. As I mentioned, there really isn’t much more about the man that was that interesting. He was born in the South immediately after the Civil War ended to a Presbyterian minister, and seemed to have a good life growing up. He was very smart, and wrote an awful lot during his youth about politics, and the state of the world. This seemed to be the man’s greatest gift - the ability to reflect, record, and ultimately learn from history. He enters Princeton as a young man, yet Princeton seems to have a less than favorable reputation. Although it’s an Ivy league school, it has more of a standing as a holiday camp for rich young men.

Wilson soon joins the academia after graduating, and works his way up to President of the University. He continues to woo the country with his ideas and reflections, which tends to thrust him into politics virtually overnight. The next thing we know, he’s governor of New York. What did he do as governor?  I have no idea. It seems as though as soon as he’s governor, there’s talk about making him the 28^th President of the United States. With incumbent Taft and his predecessor Theodore Roosevelt in the midst of political mudslinging, it allows Wilson the ability to win the 1912 election.

Other than the aforementioned involvement in The Great War, I can’t remember much about his years in office prior to that. The big thing that I remember is that the poor man was ill an awful lot.  I mean – an awful lot. And we’re talking serious illnesses here, folks. I lost track of how many strokes the man had. It’s a bit sad when your physician – Dr. Cary Grayson is actually one of the main characters in this biography. It seems like every other page detailing an event in Wilson’s life requires his doctor’s attention.

Things are so bad late in his first term, that he’s bedridden for many months and is essentially an invalid.  This is the President we’re talking about here. Yet in the days before CNN and taking videos with phones, he somehow manages to keep things hidden, and with the aid of his wife, he’s somehow able to keep the country functioning.

His true achievement, again, serves during the peace treaty after the first World War. He’s the calmest head in the room. Other nations, such as France, want to basically emasculate Germany for the war they’ve “caused”. Wilson knows better, though, and tries to allow the main loser of the conflict the ability to carry on with dignity. I would argue that, as good as his intentions were, he couldn’t quite get the other world leaders of the victor’s side to agree. (History shows us that it was Germany’s suffering during the next decade that eventually gave rise to Adolph Hitler)

It’s a bit of a shame that so many of the man’s years were spent in bad health. Reading this book made me feel as though I was experiencing the same symptoms. You read over and over again about how much pain a person was in, you start to feel a bit queasy yourself.

Would I recommend this book? I suppose. I think I would rather read a large volume that focused on the war and the years immediately following, however. That seemed to be where most of the meat of this book was.  Still, though, with the person and the material that he had, A. Scott Berg manages to give us a very good, thorough account.