Abraham Lincoln
The Man behind the Myths

The first four parts of the book were pretty good, but the last part of the book switches from historical storytelling to debunking various Lincoln assassination plots and recounting the final years of Mary Todd Lincoln. It's an odd choice and a super depressing one. It's like drinking a nice cup of......more

One thing that I like about this author is that he has a "take no prisoners" attitude about people who make things up and try to sell the results as history. Thus, he takes on everyone from Herndon to the folks who did bad Lincoln conspiracy movies. The only real weakness in the book is that the part......more

This isn't a short biography but more valuable -- it is a succinct summary of the major elements of a biography. Who better to write it than one of his most acclaimed biographers? The fourth part of the book debunks some of the wilder conspiracy stories. It was the only part of the book that I though......more

I found this book to be more informative and interesting than some of the Lincoln biographies I've read (or tried to read) because Oates dispenses with all the practical necessities of a full biography (see his "With Malice Toward None" for that) and focuses on revealing the Lincoln that myths and s......more

Uncommonly lyrical writing for biography-maybe because it goes beyond the typical timeline to examine something I've often pondered-is that Lincoln we've read about the real man, or some sort of construct created out of our own need for a father figure/hero? If he is a myth, who guided and guarded h......more