GDG- Lincoln books

[Bob Huddleston]

This is one of those books where I learned stuff I didn't know. That Mary
went quietly to visit wounded and sick in the hospitals is something I never
thought about. Other great parts are AL's relationship with Fred Douglass
and Seward taking the diplomatic corps on a jaunt to New York (547). Another
is AL talking about the escape of Lee after GB (536). With his tremendous
magnanimity, he criticized Meade, off the record, then remarked that he
realized he might not have done any better.
 
Doris Kearns Godwin has been involved in politics all her life. She is
married to a politician - and I use the term in a positive sense, as AL
would have. She has studied and written about FDR, JFK and LBJ - and
politicians are very much alike over time. Thurlow Weed plays a prominent
role in the book.

Indeed, I would suspect that the genesis of the study, the study of how AL
filled his cabinet with those who had run against him for the Republican
nomination (think John McCain as Secretary of Defense) was probably a dinner
conversation. "Say, Doris, did you know that Lincoln.."

Now for some criticisms:
 
Although she talks about AL's going through the court martial files, she
does not mention Tom Lowry's work in her footnotes.
 
On page 533, she says that the Union had 23,000 KIA at Gettysburg. That
should be total losses, not just KIA.

She has spent too much time watching the Gettysburg movie! See page 532!

On page 345, Anderson was Beauregard's instructor at West Point, not the
other way around, and Abner Doubleday was not on Anderson's staff, Doubleday
was a battery commander.

And, for heaven's sake, AL did not compose the Gettysburg Address on an
envelope. (583). 

However, the book is still a great read and a fundamental study of the Civil
War and a great contribution to Lincoln biography.

Take care,

Bob

Judy and Bob Huddleston
10643 Sperry Street
Northglenn, CO  80234-3612
303.451.6376  Huddleston.r at comcast.net

I am A thousand times meaner A hundred times Harder and A damed sight wors
Looking than I Ever was so you can form some sort of an idea what sort of A
Looking man you have now for A Husband if this kind of Buisness wont make
men hard I should like to know what will it is Everyone for himself and dam
the one that pulls the hind tit

Henry Clemons of Company K, 23rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, to his wife
Anna in Sauk City, Wis, January 15, 1863
-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]
On Behalf Of Marc Ferguson
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 9:51 AM
To: GDG
Subject: Re: GDG- Lincoln books

Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


I finally began reading _Team of Rivals_ about a week ago, and am about a
third of the way through. Lincoln has just been nominated. It is an
enjoyable read, being very well written. My impression thus far is that its
main contribution is the parallel tracing of the lives and careers of
Seward, Chase, and Bates alongside that of Lincoln. This has given me a much
better sense of these men, and through them the political landscape of
antebellum America in the North and West. I think that Goodwin handles the
intimate personal material of these people's lives very well. She also
provides interesting and insightful portraits of the women in these men's
lives, such as Frances Seward and Kate Chase.

Marc