An absolutely fascinating analysis of Abraham Lincoln as a writer, which was undoubtedly his greatest strength. Thusly the title recalls the epic phrase – “the pen is mightier than the sword”, which was coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 (thanks Wikipedia!). Some of my favorite quotes and ideas from the book follow – enjoy! “‘He was a very deliberate writer, anything but rapid. … I never saw him dictate to anyone, and it certainly was not his practice to do so. He seemed to think nothing of the labor of writing personally and was accustomed to make many scraps of notes and memoranda. In writing a careful letter, he first wrote it himself, then corrected it, and then rewrote the corrected version himself.’ … Even though a slow and ‘very deliberate’ writer, Lincoln was not in the least put off by what most people consider the onerous labor … Continue reading →

Finished on September 4th, 2008 Who is the more admirable character, the actress Laura Keene or the assassin’s sister, Asia Booth Clarke? Before reading this book, I would have had no idea how to answer this question, but now I know all this and more and am very glad to have read this book. I first heard about the book as a potential film project that Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford were looking at, but didn’t pick up the book until a couple of months ago. It reads very easily and is the exciting and compelling true life mystery of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Packed full of history and an incredibly petty and sordid supporting cast (especially on the Union side), this book was absolutely delightful. What was especially nice in my edition of the book was the interview with the author … Continue reading →

This book was fantastic and accomplishes a fascinating analysis of Lincoln by analyzing not only his life but the lives of those he worked with politically, chiefly his three rivals for the Republican presidential nomination of 1860: William Seward (his Secretary of State), Salmon P. Chase (his first Secretary of the Treasure) and Edwards Bates (his Attorney General). A lot of really interesting things to learn about Lincoln…remember a little while ago when U.S. News came out with a cover page that said Lincoln was gay (or posed the question was he gay)? Goodwin does a wonderful job of explaining that basically, everybody in the 19th century was a homosexual. No they just weren’t as “inhibited” when it came to room and board. Sleeping in bed with another man was strictly that and nothing more. What else do we learn? Lincoln pulled the first John Kerry by not supporting the … Continue reading →