Lincoln's Other White House: The Untold Story of the Man and His Presidency

by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein

Book Overview

The Lincolns spent the summer of 1862 north of the White House at the Soldiers' Home. The lush, cool hill overlooking the squalid capital promised the Lincolns an escape from the ""city of stink."" Despite fears about Lincoln's vulnerability in the secluded place, Lincoln spent a quarter of his presidency at the Soldiers' Home. But until the National Trust for Historic Preservation began restoring the cottage, little had been done to explore this...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1681620006
• ISBN13: 9781681620008
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Unique Look At A Key Personal Aspect of Lincoln's Presidency

Washington, DC offers the visitor so much, but here is a unique option which I discovered to be extremely moving and educational. Having just observed the 200th birthday on February 12, 2009 of our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, we think we know a lot about him. After all over 16,000 books have been written about his life and times. However, my friend, a noted author of numerous historical subjects, Elizabeth Brownstein, led a small group of us on an adventure recently to an improbable place, now called the Armed Forces Retirement Home, located near the first US National Cemetery, which was filled by 1864 with so many Civil War dead it has closed and its successor cemetery at Arlington opened. It was this first cemetery that for 13 months of his Presidency, Lincoln could view from his residence. No, not the White House, but his other White House. During his residency there, which he thought might be a respite from the actual White House, he could observe from his front window an average of 40 Union soldiers a day being buried there. "Betty" Browstein, as she is known to friends, who arranged this tour of this historic house, has ably chronicled in her well received book, "Lincoln's Other White House: The Untold Story of the Man and His Presidency" a truly unique look at Lincoln and his family. To me the Civil War represents the greatest challenge ever to our Republic's survival (until now with our current immigration invasion crisis) and when she and our estimable guide described the life and times the Lincoln's led here, I often was close to tears. It was in June of 1962 that the Lincoln family moved from the low lying, disease ridden area of their official White House in which Lincoln was daily beset with a train of supplicants, to this hill tip site, an elevation of some 300 feet above the other home, 3 miles away. Lincoln commuted on horseback, often alone, daily to the real White House, experiencing at one point a rifle shot from an assassin right through his stove pipe hat. This 1850 Gothic revival cottage (hardly small with over 20 rooms) was located next to the first Soldiers' Home, the nation's initial refuge for its old and disabled veterans. Today between 1100 and 1200 men and women reside on these grounds, now known as the Armed Forces Retirement Home, on spacious acreage which today includes a 9 hole golf course on which I regularly play. The Lincoln's youngest son, Willie, had just died and thus respite was hoped for, but it hardly came, as described above, since, as her book relates, "Lincoln's difficult generals, his contentious cabinet members, touchy diplomats, politicians of all persuasions, old friends and even curious strangers found their way there at all hours of the day and night." The house was also sometimes close enough to the front lines that cannon fire could be heard. However, it was here that Lincoln chose to spend a quarter (25%) of his Presidency. Deeply affected by the deaths he saw dai

Lincoln's Other White House

The author has done a wonderful job showing what a real human being that Lincoln was. A friend of mine borrowed my book and liked it so well that she went out and immediately bought 5 more to give as Christmas presents. It is just the right size for a gift book and so well written anyone will be proud to own it. I have also bought 6 more copies to give all my family for Christmas. Everyone should read it, everyone will enjoy it. written by Malcolm Kelly, a Kentuckian proud or both Mr and Mrs Lincoln who were born in this state.

fresh look at the Lincolns

I especially enjoyed the fresh approach to Lincoln and to his wife Mary Todd, who comes across in this new book as an elegant, urbane, and gracious `Republican Queen.' The account of the Lincolns' marriage and their home life at the White House and the Soldiers' Home, from observers such as the Union Army soldiers who guarded him for three years, is fascinating. The book is based on extensive research and is enriched by fresh anecdotes about Lincoln, by Whitman's and abolitionist Longfellow's poetry, and letters and memoirs of the diverse personalities with whom Lincoln interacted, particularly his generals and cabinet members.

New Light on an Old Subject

It must be difficult-given the plethora of books on Lincoln-to shed new light on an old subject. However, Elizabeth Brownstein does. Through careful and thorough research, Ms. Brownstein addresses issues hitherto unexplored. Lincoln's summer home...provides a suitable setting to describe Lincoln's activities outside the White House. One learns, for instance, that the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation was completed here. One also learns that, far from being a retreat from the hustle and bustle of Pennsylvania Avenue, the home facilitated Lincoln's open-mindedness about receiving virtual strangers at virtually any hour of the day or night and resulted in serious sleep deprivation. However, it was in the other topics addressed in the book that Lincoln's character is at its most illuminating. His fascination with weaponry, his patience in his dealings with his wife, and his ability to establish collegial relationship with people of vastly differing temperaments are all thoughtfully explored...The characters highlighted are dispassionately analyzed in such a way as to enable the reader to be part of the scene at all times. For instance, Lincoln's wife, so often pilloried...is given a fair hearing and is properly depicted as a courageous soul confronted by agonizing choices and exaggerated expectations of the First Lady's performance as a suitable consort of the most admired President in American History...Mrs. Brownstein provides a valuable service for readers interested in the less dramatic, but no less insightful, clues about Lincoln the President, confronted, as he was, by the unprecedented challenges associated with his era.

A Splendid Contribution

I have read a number of books on the Civil War in Washington...Fine as those books are, they do not accomplish two things that are splendid contributions of your book on the weekend home that the Lincolns made of their cottage at the Soldiers' Home. First, we often forget the huge personal burden that the war place on Lincoln and his belief, strong in the summer of 1864, that he would be defeated in the next election and that the gains in the war would slip back into Southern control. We can see in your book how his days and nights in the cottage helped Lincoln to hold on to and expand what he had until victory in the 1864 election was assured. The other is the loving relationship of the President with his wife, Mary Lincoln. We often hear of her oddities and running up of debts. What we do not hear of, and what admirably is stressed in your book, is what you describe as "the mutual affection and mutual dependence" that always linked them despite their great differences in character. Respect for Mary Lincoln, and her contributions to the greatness of Abraham Lincoln, is something we could use more of in writing American history. I will not go on expect to say that I think I have already indicated the greatness of your book, and my hope that librarians and readers everywhere will have an opportunity to benefit from its revelations and the new light it brings on the life of one of our very greatest Presidents.