Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Lincoln
    Lincoln
    Lincoln
    Audiobook30 hours

    Lincoln

    Written by David Herbert Donald

    Narrated by Dick Estell

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    A masterful work by Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Herbert Donald, Lincoln is a stunning portrait of Abraham Lincoln’s life and presidency.

    Donald brilliantly depicts Lincoln’s gradual ascent from humble beginnings in rural Kentucky to the ever-expanding political circles in Illinois, and finally to the presidency of a country divided by civil war. Donald goes beyond biography, illuminating the gradual development of Lincoln’s character, chronicling his tremendous capacity for evolution and growth, thus illustrating what made it possible for a man so inexperienced and so unprepared for the presidency to become a great moral leader. In the most troubled of times, here was a man who led the country out of slavery and preserved a shattered Union—in short, one of the greatest presidents this country has ever seen.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateNov 6, 2012
    ISBN9781442362727
    Author

    David Herbert Donald

    David Herbert Donald is the author of We Are Lincoln Men, Lincoln, which won the prestigious Lincoln Prize and was on the New York Times bestseller list for fourteen weeks, and Lincoln at Home. He has twice won the Pulitzer Prize, for Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, and for Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe. He is the Charles Warren Professor of American History and of American Civilization Emeritus at Harvard University and resides in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

    Related to Lincoln

    Related audiobooks

    Political Biographies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Tragedy of Edmund Morris

      May 28, 2019

      The Tragedy of Edmund Morris
      5 min read

    • Article

      Marketing Lincoln

      Apr 6, 2021

      Marketing Lincoln
      5 min read

    • Article

      A New Side of Lincoln

      Sep 21, 2021

      Abraham Lincoln is, justifiably, considered the greatest orator among all American presidents. But while his speeches are well-known, Lincoln’s lifelong habit of scribbling notes for his eyes only is less celebrated. Although many of these private no

      6 min read

    • Article

      Spiritual Awakening

      Jan 17, 2023

      Spiritual Awakening
      8 min read

    • Article

      Lincoln (continued)

      Apr 6, 2021

      Lincoln (continued)
      4 min read

    • Article

      Lincoln’s Lesson

      Oct 15, 2022

      Lincoln’s Lesson
      8 min read

    • Article

      Lincoln’s Lesson

      Oct 14, 2022

      Lincoln’s Lesson
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Common Genius of Lincoln and Einstein: The president and the physicist teach us a lesson about moral genius.

      Oct 30, 2014

      Abraham Lincoln would still be remembered today as a self-taught prairie prodigy and an astute political operator who crushed the Confederate uprising, even without the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the end of slavery. Albert

      6 min read

    • Article

      President Lincoln Has Long Provided Wisdom. What Can He Offer Today?

      Feb 15, 2024

      More than any other American president, Abraham Lincoln has been considered a source of wisdom for subsequent generations. New books on Lincoln reliably appear every February to coincide with Presidents Day, joining an already vast library. This year

      4 min read

    • Article

      Commentary: What Would Lincoln Do? America's 16th President Navigated Times Even More Polarized Than Today's

      Feb 15, 2019

      Abraham Lincoln, who was born 210 years ago this month, was president during an era even more rancorous and polarized than our own. Yet he managed to navigate it - not in a way that pleased everyone or made him popular, but rather by keeping the good

      2 min read

    • Article

      Gay History In The City Of Secrets

      May 20, 2022

      DURING J. EDGAR Hoover’s 48 years as FBI director, people often gossiped about whether his bedroom tastes were as straight as his agents’ marksmanship, citing everything from his fondness for socializing in male groups to his close relationship with

      5 min read

    • Article

      My Father’s Voice

      Dec 1, 2021

      My Father’s Voice
      13 min read

    • Article

      Lincoln's Faith

      Jan 1, 2024

      Lincoln's Faith
      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters |

      Nov 2, 2022

      Letters |
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Lincoln

    4.5/5

    389 ratings16 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      For the very first time, after 7 decades of honoring Lincoln, I feel I now actually know the man (as well as about the man). Hearing this book has helped me see, for the first time, that Lincoln was committed from the start to preserving the Union. Freeing the slaves, ennobling as it was, began as a strategic measure to turn the tide of the Civil War. I have always known that Lincoln’s guide was the Declaration of Independence (“all men are created equal”). But I did not know before “reading” this marvelously detailed treatise, how clearly Lincoln foresaw the difficulties that lay ahead of our country when it became clear that issues with black-white cohabitation were not going to be solved by shipping blacks back to Africa or to Colombia. Lincoln would not be surprised to see so much de facto racial segregation as we have now in the US. He would be disappointed, I think, to observe so much structural racism and intentional, structural “keeping of blacks” in their socioeconomically underprivileged “places”.

      This book about the past has helped me better understand the present… precisely what a superb book of history should do.

      Thanks,

      Nelson Burgess Record, Jr
      Saco, Maine

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Un audio libro para leerlo repetidamente un día a la vez.
    • 4/5
      I haven't read a book on Lincoln in a long time. In fact I was probably in 6th or 7th grade, and I don't remember who the author was. I figured I'm starting at the beginning again, and I definitely picked the right book. This is the perfect first book on Lincoln. What a fascinating person. I can't help but want to dig deeper, and I've already started two other books on Lincoln plus I've begun Shelby Foote's three volume Civil War narrative. I've yet to finish any other Lincoln biographies to use as comparison, suffice it to say that this book was very entertaining, well written and hard to put down. David Herbert focused on Lincoln the man, and no so much on the war, or anything that didn't directly involve him. I would have liked perhaps a little more on his personal life. Other than that, I was very satisfied with the book.
    • 5/5
      Just an amazing book. I have a totally new view on Lincoln.
    • 5/5
      A biography with unique approach: telling the Lincoln life story from Lincoln's perspective of what he knew and when he knew it. An extensive, highly readable book that covers Lincoln's professional life as an attorney and politician without sentiment. Lawyer Lincoln began his career humbly and slowly gained confidence and clients, until he became one of the leading trial lawyers in the mid-west. David Donald's Lincoln is a political leader who suffered many more failures than successes and achieved political sainthood only after his assassination and death. This Lincoln biography allows a reader to go back in time and see how President Lincoln was judged by his peers, his constituents and the press: as a physically unattractive seemingly country bumpkin; disorganized executive; and an early poor judge of military talent who slowly learned how to manage this important resource. This is a book that reminds us that however we judge contemporary political leaders, we never know how they will fare in history. I read the book many years ago, and was compelled to re-read it and enjoy it even more the second time.
    • 4/5
      Engaging biography of a man who was plucked from obscurity—though he liked to say he never lost a direct election, his most recent political adventure had been losing a senatorial race to Stephen Douglas—and evolved into one of our most revered presidents. Donald paints a picture of a man who had a strong core that enabled him to get past some initial missteps; a determined learner who always felt a little insecure about his lack of formal education, but would do as much work as necessary to master a task; and a gentle person who nonetheless survived a political culture so toxic that it actually turned into civil war. Bonus: as pundits have always done, pundits announced that his political career was over after he lost the Senate race to Douglas. In some ways the main lesson of American political history is: never listen to anyone who tells you “X’s career is over.”
    • 4/5
      Great, detailed biography of Lincoln. Almost too many facts given, but mostly a good read.
    • 5/5
      Excellent biography. It is unbiased, it contains only what relevant to the subject and nothing else (difficult task, considering so many important events during Lincoln presidency). it's well written, it keeps reader engaged. I wish all biographies would be written like this. As of Lincoln, it shows him a remarkable person, but it also causes to contemplate how extraneous events could elevate one person to the very hight of history but others with similar qualities in similar jobs are forgotten. There were at least a couple of presidents after Jackson that were very remarkable and that shared Lincoln's ideas at the time - union preservation above everything else. Some were even Democrats. But everybody knows Lincoln as a defender of liberty, equality and freedom but the others are pretty much forgotten.
    • 5/5
      David Herbert Donald provides a fascinating look into the 16th (and in my opinion, greatest) president's life. What separates this book from the rest of Lincoln biographies is his willingness to explore the human and flawed sides of Lincoln that so many of us forget.Donald also provides much context to the early life of Lincoln, which also seems to be forgotten. This is truly a magnificent piece of work that should be read, studied, and owned by all Lincoln scholars.
    • 5/5
      Ever since historians have been polled to rank United States Presidents, Abraham Lincoln has consistently landed in the top three; many consider him our greatest president. Which is not to say Lincoln doesn't have strong detractors. Many of my politically inclined friends have attacked him left and right: For his appalling record on civil liberties and violation of constitutional principles--and some claim that Lincoln should not be seen as a champion of equal rights and racial justice--I've even known some to claim the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery at all. (I'd say this book--and every other reputable work of scholarship I've read--makes it idiotic to believe the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery. The South seceded precisely because of the election of Lincoln who had made clear his opposition to the further expansion of slavery.)One could, at least if one quoted very selectively and out of context, find plenty of ammunition in this biography for that negative assessment. Lincoln's record on civil liberties is appalling. Suspension of habeas corpus leading to the arrest and imprisonment of political dissenters, opening of private mails, military tribunals trying civilians, censorship, even complete suppression of unfriendly newspapers, institution of the draft--even use of troops to suppress Democratic votes and threaten uncooperative state legislatures. Even Donald admits that Lincoln was responsible for "greater infringements on individual liberties than in any other period in American history." As for criticism of his racial policies, it's true that Lincoln famously wrote in a letter that the purpose of the war was to save the Union and, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." Despite that Donald doesn't omit any of that, his portrait of Lincoln still comes across as sympathetic and admiring. As Donald drew Lincoln, he was, above all, a pragmatist and canny politician who knowing the racist views of his fellow citizens tacked and maneuvered and steered a course towards emancipation as far and fast as the winds of public opinion would allow. Donald does well in giving you the context to understand why Lincoln would say the things he did and act the way he did. Indeed, that's the very purpose of the biography. In the Prologue Donald related that the one time he met President John F. Kennedy, the president told him that, "No one has a right to grade a President--not even poor James Buchanan--who has not sat in his chair, examined the mail and information that came across his desk, and learned why he made his decisions." That's what Donald set out to do in this Lincoln biography and it hews close to Lincoln's point of view. It's a biography widely considered to be the best one-volume biography of Lincoln in print. It's exhaustive certainly, and sometimes exhausting. It's 600 pages in trade paperback in small font and, especially in those parts dealing with the minutia of Lincoln's law practice, I found myself less than riveted--but I had to admire Donald's research and scholarship throughout. About a third of the biography dealt with Lincoln's life before coming to national prominence in the Lincoln/Douglas debates, another third takes you through his campaign for president to the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation and the lowest point of the war, and the last third takes you through the rest of the war and Lincoln's assassination. No man up to that time of Lincoln's election had been "less prepared to be president" according to Donald--and maybe no man since. Lincoln had less than a year of formal schooling, no administrative experience upon taking office, and his political experience had been limited to 8 years as an Illinois State legislator and one very undistinguished term as a congressman. The personal and political challenge on his taking office were thus immense--but Donald believes he grew greatly in that office--and Donald certainly makes a strong case for that and makes you appreciate the crushing decisions Lincoln faced.
    • 4/5
      Over the past several years I have found myself growing more and more into a history buff. I have always been drawn to Abraham Lincoln, but I found that I really did not know much about his life. For anyone wishing to gain a great knowledge of Abraham Lincoln, "Lincoln" by David Herbert Donald is the resource.It covers the spectrum of his whole life. Donald creates a wonderful portrait of how Lincoln's early life, life as a circuit lawyer, life as a politician, live as a husband and father, and the tragedies he experienced all prepared him to be our 16th President. The author did a great job of showing his humanness and imperfections. Early on as President, Lincoln struggled to be decisive and sadly it was only after his re-election that he really grasped the role. But in the end he struck to the values and principles of life he learned early on. I was surprised at how emotional I felt during the vivid detail of the assassination and death.Part of the text was a bit repetitive especially the few final chapters, but it was well worth the read.I hope to put together several speeches based on the leadership principles and core values learned from the life of Abraham Lincoln.
    • 5/5
      In the past few years it has become fashionable to take a lesser known politician and write a biography in defense of why he is one of the most under estimated leaders in our history. This is not the case with Lincoln. Lincoln is the most written about American of all time, outdoing even the likes of George Washington or Teddy Roosevelt. Lincoln is often ranked as the greatest President and it is appropriate that so much should be written on his presidentcy. David Herbert Donald writes in the narrative voice so that this biography reads like a novel. He does so in much the same way that David McCullough or Stephen Amborse wrote their historical works. While the text is 599 pages it is not hard to finish at all. Some of the interesting information that I took from the biography was Lincoln's relationship with his father. That perhaps if he had been able to step back and look at his fathers life, then he would not have been quite so hard on him. It is very interesting to note that his relationship with his eldest son Robert was strained and somewhat of a mirror of the relationship with his own father. It is also interesting to note that Lincoln was a very astute politician and not near the dark horse candidate as he is often portrayed. He was also one of nations leading raliroad attornies. One of the great areas of interst to me was the authors account throughout the whole book was in the area of Lincoln faith. As a boy and young man Lincoln never showed tany real interest in the church or ever even joined the church. This was one of the many things that caused a strain in the relationship between he and his father. However upon his election as the president and the beginnig of the wasr Lincoln often spoke to friends and wrote letters regarding his need to seek wisdom from a higher authority. Upon the death of his son Willie and the deep depression of his wife Mary Todd, he started seeking solace and comfort from the Father and reading the Bible on a daily basis, as well as conversing with a Presbyterian Pastor two to three times every week. He often started attending church services, but he still did no join the church. As the War between the States dragged on longer than he hoped, he often stated that our plans are not the same as the Almighty, who is soverign overall. The author has a tendency to confuse this with fatalism, instead of recognizing the sovernty of God. I quickly admit that I have a dog in this fight and a desire to see Lincoln as a believer. I am not neutral in this regard. I do belive and hope that Lincoln was and did become a believer. I alos have a tendency to belive he was one of if not our greatest Presidents.
    • 4/5
      Probably the standard one-volume life of Lincoln, David Herbert Donald's biography shows the great skills Lincoln had that brought him to the Presidency, but it also attempts to blow away the myths that cluster around him since his assassination. In doing so, he allows the reader to wonder even more at the fact that a man in many ways ordinary could be so effective in so trying a time as the Civil War.
    • 5/5
      It’s really only been in the relatively recent past—maybe 20 years, maybe less—that there has been a coalescing of opinion around Abraham Lincoln as the greatest President the United States has ever had. It probably came with a recognition that Lincoln as the president of a democracy engaged in a civil war managed to both prosecute a war and preside over a bitterly factionalized country with astounding success. It is a fact that until 1864, no country had successfully held an election in the midst of a civil war; the American accomplishment was both unique and downright awe-inspiring.At least as far back as Shelby Foote’s 3-volume masterpiece, The Civil War; A Narrative, in any in-depth history of the Civil War, Lincoln comes across as a decisive leader and politically shrewd; in fact, most historians call him a political genius. His compassion and concern for reuniting the country and healing its wounds is appropriately legendary; few leaders in such circumstances have shown such insight and humanity. He has his rightful place in history as the author of the emancipation Proclamation, the first step in eliminating slavery from the nation. With all these accomplishments and more, Lincoln is head and shoulders about the rest of the pack of Presidents. His tragic death, assassinated on good Friday of 1865, is just the last scene, that of martyr and savior, in a lifetime leading up to a nearly mythological place in history.But what we see in those histories are the results of his decisions, not the process. What Donald attempts to do in his biography, through quotations from Lincoln’s numerous writings and the letters and memoirs of contemporaries, both friends and enemies, is to show that process, to show the man behind the legend and the statue in the memorial.He does accomplish this, but at times of leaning so far in the direction of showing Lincoln’s doubts, his missteps, his inexperience and awkwardness, that you begin to wonder how in the world the man ever got the reputation he did for being such a political genius? This is especially true of Donald’s reconstruction of the year 1864, which was the darkest year of the war. It does jar, after reading chapters of minutely detailed meetings, confrontations, and behind-the scenes maneuvering where Lincoln is shown at his worst in this book, that suddenly in the very next chapter Donald proclaims once again Lincoln’s political genius. While that’s a flaw in the book, it should not take away from the wealth of information that Donald provides to back up every statement he makes about Lincoln’s life. Certainly, to any student of the Civil War, no matter how casual, Lincoln’s role in it leaps out, dramatic and crucial; those facts are well known. Donald provides us, however, with details of Lincoln’s early life and especially his years as an Illinois lawyer and politician, years which shaped him with his regard for the law and the Constitution, and provide us with critical information about Lincoln’s attitudes which he brought to bear on his decisions about the Union, reconstruction, and emancipation of the slaves. It really is impossible to understand the White House years in any depth without knowing, in the kind of detail that Donald provides, about the Illinois years.Donald’s style is somewhat dry and pedantic, at its worst when recounting the early years. However, the subject is of enough interest to keep the reader going. When he reaches the White House years, the drama of the Civil War takes over, and even the scholar gets caught up in the press of events and the excitement and tension of the war. Slow going at first, the book’s pace picks up.The book ends with Lincoln’s death. The last paragraph makes up for all faults—it left me in tears.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      This has received high praise, but to me this was a run of the mill biography. Hits all the high points that need hitting. However, I don't recall there being any startling reinterpretations or wonderful insights. It is a good biography for someone who has never read a Lincoln biography. However, for those people, I would still point them to Team of Rivals.
    • 5/5
      The definitive Lincoln bio, and deservedly so.