Harold Holzer

My problem with history books, generally speaking, until recently, was the most of them tended to focus on statistics in one form or another (dates, battles, treaties, laws, etc) and very rarely about the people, the culture. One without the other is history without context and as such either put me to sleep or went in one ear and out the other.

But I've always had more than a bit of hero worship for Abraham Lincoln. Just looking at his portraits, there is something compelling to his visage, something that implies the hidden depths are deep indeed.

So when I heard about this book, it sounded like just the thing I was looking for: mostly contemporaneous anecdotes of Lincoln, told by those that loved him, worked with him, or worked for him - and a few by those that worked against him. Short of asking Lincoln's cat what he thought of him, I can think of no better way of really learning the true quality of the man himself than from what his friends and opponents thought of him.

Holzer puts together a slim but comprehensive volume of such anecdotes, groups by relationship to Lincoln: family, friends, press, etc. In the introduction and at the end in the author's notes he is clear that the collection is but a drop in the bucket, but is representative of the whole, and that he has left each alone save for editing for readability (i.e. swapping em dashes for periods to comply with modern grammar).

By far the most eloquent of the pieces, and likely my favourites on first reflection, are those written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass. Beecher Stowe for her beautiful writing, Truth for her passion and grace, and Douglass for his honesty. My least favourite, although Holzer gets credit for avoiding bias, are two excerpts from John Wilkes Booth; it brings balance to the work, but feels blasphemous somehow, to include his assassin's memories.

The number one thing in common amongst all these anecdotes - whether the writer admired or reviled Lincoln: that he was honest, kind and moral. How many historical figures have the respect of their detractors?

I read this for the Optional 4th of July Main Street Read for space #13. Pages: 262… (més)

Interesting perspectives and analysis how various Presidential administrations handled press coverage throughout our nation’s history. Based on this book, FDR (with his Fireside Chats) and JFK with his intellect and humor were very good at dealing with the press and also communicating with the American public. Donald Trump has been a disaster.

It was interesting to see how various Press Secretaries in the various administrations made out. Most of them did not have long tenures. I enjoyed the book as the author kept things interesting with inside stories throughout its 443 pages.

Trump has little use for the press. Very few press conferences. He uses Twitter to get his message out. Hopefully starting with Joe Biden, there will be a renewed civility between the President and the Press. But I’m not counting on it.… (més)

5760. The Presidents vs. The Press The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media--from the Founding Fathers to Fake News, by Harold Holzer (read 19 Oct 2021) This book covers the presidencies of Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, and all the presidents since Kennedy up to 2019 and their relations with the media. That relationship is usually contentious. The author of the book is a Lincoln scholar and one gets the idea that he was not really very familiar with other presidents and suspects that his discussion of the other presidents elations with the media relies much on less intense study. He paints a picture of all the presidents sort of looking on the press as an enemy, though only Trump actually called the media an enemy. The book is very readable and holds one's interest--but I can't say I always agreed with the author's judgments. That may be because he was as hard on Democratic presidents I liked as he was on presidents I disapproved of.… (més)

A special publication from LOA on the Lincoln assassination & the aftermath. The editor did a splendid job of using letters, newspaper accounts, diary entries, poems & speeches in memorial of Lincoln. From the moment of the assassination, the accounts of the hunt & final end of Booth, the trial & execution of the 4 conspirators, to the funeral procession to Springfield Illinois to Lincoln's final resting place, the reader is given scenes of horror, of the chaos surrounding Seward's near death at the hands of an assassin until the trial & execution. In this account, a nearly complete account of the period surrounding Lincoln's death is amazingly put together. In some cases, there are the diary entries of Confederate women whose eye opening statements left no doubt the level of animosity that remained in spite of the end of the war. Francis Carpenter's account is unusually accurate. The unusual statement made by the editor's on F. Douglass' 2nd speech made 15 years after Lincoln's death was quite inappropriate since the speech has to be read as a whole. Although Douglass regarded Lincoln less than he did earlier, he did not dwell on that statement. After reading the 2nd Douglass speech, the editor's statement should have been left unsaid, hence the 4 star… (més)