REVIEW - Lincoln (by David Herbert Donald)

I haven't been reviewing all the books I've finished in the last year or so. I guess they haven't been that remarkable. I wanted to write about this book however because of the thoughts and feelings that it elicited.

Lincoln. By David Herbert Donald. Published by Simon & Schuster 1996.

In case one doesn't want to get caught up in the ensuing multiple paragraphs of my thoughts on this book as a book, let me start out by saying the book itself was not great. I found it a hard read. Not in difficulty of understanding but of the general feeling of "slogging through something." I'm not one to give up easily on a book so I kept at it. I think this book took me the better part of 7 or 8 months to finish. It is approx. 600 pages of text and then another 120 pages or so of notes and index etc.
The book did not really start to get interesting until it reached the point of Abraham Lincoln's life when he started his run for the presidency.
Let me begin my thoughts and feelings about this book by sharing the initial feelings I had upon finishing. The first thought that entered my head was that I am truly grateful for Abraham Lincoln. Grateful for everything he did and everything he did not do. He did more than just shepherd the country through the Civil War resulting in the abolition of slavery. He never gave up even after failure after failure after failure in his life. Indeed even after each failure he would go through a dark depressing period and there is much written information about his feelings about his failures and losses. However, he did not give up. He found a way to keep going and to keep after what he thought was right and what he thought God wanted him to do or wanted in a certain situation.
He did not lower his morals. He kept his integrity even when all those around him were scrambling to be the first one to the bottom of the mucky undergrowth of political success. He truly earned the moniker, "Honest Abe." He had to learn how to play the Washington game whilst keeping himself from sliding down the slippery slope of doing whatever it takes to get ahead. This maddened those around him, both friend and foe.
Reading this during this years election period was especially enlightening for me. I learned that even in the 1860's the political climate was brutal and harsh. Every bit as gut wrenching and ugly as 2008. That actually surprised me. Even after 148 years we still have not risen above the swampy ugly mess of politicking in this country.
I found it very frustrating to read about this great man and follow his life through the dark years of the civil war. Just as it became clear that the war was over and that the abolition of slavery was fairly sure his life was taken. It was literally only a matter of several weeks that President Lincoln had emerged from his dark sullen expression and worry over the great calamities of war that his life was taken. Only a moment, comparatively, that he began to show joy and happiness and have his health return that his life was taken. The only sense I can make of it is that God had finished with him. He was done with what God placed him there to do and now he could go to his rest. Any other conclusion would seem malicious and cruel.
I can only recommend this book if one really wants to study the entire life of this great man. This is not a lite history lesson but a thorough look at what made Abraham Lincoln one of the greatest leaders of modern history.