Volume 45, Number 5 · March 26, 1998
Lincoln's Herndon
By James M. McPherson
Lincoln Before Washington: New Perspectives on the Illinois Years
by Douglas L. Wilson
University of Illinois Press,190 pp., $26.95
Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln
Edited by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis
University of Illinois Press,827 pp., $49.95
Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln
by Douglas L. Wilson
Knopf, 383 pp., $30.00
Many authors have written trilogies, but Douglas L. Wilson may be the first to publish all three volumes within a few months of each other. Although there is some overlap, they fit together like the tiles of a mosaic to provide a fuller portrait than previously existed of Abraham Lincoln during his formative years in New Salem and Springfield. Two main themes emerge in these 1400 pages: the rehabilitation of William H. Herndon as a researcher and as a biographer of Lincoln; and the crucial importance of the New Salem and early Springfield years in the shaping of Lincoln's character.
Review, 3597 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |