The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now

By: Harold Holzer

Book Overview

'The Lincoln Anthology' brings together 110 insightful and imaginative selections by a diverse array of 95 writers from William Cullen Bryant to E.L. Doctorow. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159853033X
• ISBN13: 9781598530339
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Library of America
• Length: 800 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 5.1" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

"O captain, my captain...."

I was made aware of this title through the recent Lincoln PBS special with Sam Waterson and Harold Holzer. The readings on the show made me want to hear them again, and they are all here in this very good collection. Particularly interesting is the poem by Melville, who met Lincoln and asked for an ambassadorship to Florence, Italy, which he didn't get. Also of interest is the Nathanael Hawthorne description upon first meeting Lincoln. And of course, the poems of Walt Whitman are forever poignant. Lincoln's appeal to poets, writers, and the world was such because he himself was something of a poet and loved Shakespeare and all literature. This is a fine collection. It should be read in a historical context, divorced from the political struggles we endure today.

On Lincoln

While I consider this anthology an essential purchase for anyone with a bookshelf devoted to Abraham Lincoln, it does contain certain selections I found unworthy. These were mainly works of historical fiction by modern (but not great) writers including Irving Stone, Gore Vidal, William Safire and--especially--Adam Braver. On the larger positive side, this volume gives the reader the handy opportunity to read important thoughts about Mr. Lincoln by Walt Whitman, W.E.B. Du Bois, Reinhold Niebuhr, Jacques Barzun and many others. While I admire the editor Harold Holzer, I suspect this one-time aide to Gov. Mario Cuomo (a former New York political leader who has an excellent piece rightfully included by Mr. Holzer in this anthology) has stacked the deck somewhat in favor of selections and commentary that support the attempted capture of Mr. Lincoln's legacy by the modern Democratic Party.