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Lincoln

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Lincoln

By: David Herbert Donald
Narrated by: Dick Estell
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About this listen

In the best-selling tradition of Truman, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David Herbert Donald offers a new classic in American history and biography - a masterly account of how one man's extraordinary political acumen steered the Union to victory in the Civil War, and of how his soaring rhetoric gave meaning to that agonizing struggle for nationhood and equality.

Donald spent 50 years studying Lincoln, tracing his rise from humble origins to the pinnacle of the presidency. He reveals the development of the future president's character and shows how Lincoln's enormous capacity for growth enabled one of the least experienced men ever elected to high office to become a giant in the annals of American politics. And he depicts a man who was basically passive by nature, yet ambitious enough to take enormous risks and overcome repeated defeats.

Much more than a political biography, Lincoln seats us behind the desk of a president who was both a master of ambiguity and expediency and a great moral leader, as he makes the decisions that preserved the Union and shaped modern America.

©2011 David Herbert Donald (P)2012 Simon & Schuster Historical Military Politicians Politics & Activism Presidents & Heads of State

Critic Reviews

"A grand work - the Lincoln biography for this generation." (Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.)
" Lincoln immediately takes its place among the best of the genre, and it is unlikely that it will be surpassed in elegance, incisiveness and originality in this century.... A book of investigative tenacity, interpretive boldness and almost acrobatic balance." ( Chicago Tribune)
"Eagerly awaited, Lincoln fulfills expectations. Donald writes with lucidity and elegance." ( The Atlantic)
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I loved this book, great biography of possibly one of the greatest men of all time. Lincoln was a larger than life figure. I felt I was living in the 19th century listening to this book.

I cried at the end

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Great history, nothing but compliments. I thought the narrator a bit bland, but in the end I felt he truly suited the narrative.

Fabulous, shows the man behind the name.

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I was curious about the life of possible Americas greatest presidents. Intimate details are revealed as well as a significant amount of detail, sometimes too much. But in the end, it provided context to a different era of politics and people. I loved the narrators voice but the alt narrator cutting in at times was a bit jarring. Overall wonderful book.

Informative and captures the moment

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