Herndon's Lincoln

[Rob Wick]

(02-13-2017 06:51 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  If you (pl.) had to decide between either "Herndon's Lincoln" or "Herndon's Informants", which would you prefer?

Personally, Eva, I would prefer Herndon's Informants, simply because it would allow me to read what Herndon had collected and make my own conclusions, but then again, that's just me.

Quote:Rob, thank you so much for the recommendation! I was just thinking about getting a copy and wondered if there would be anything to it that wasn't in Herndon's Informants. This makes it so much easier to hit "order" :-)

Angela, in my experience, most people who read a book rarely read it critically. In other words, they don't read asking "is this right?" or "how did the author come to this conclusion?" Herndon's biography is no different. I'm sure there are things in Herndon's Lincoln that didn't appear in Informants and vice versa. But I think if one was to read Informants first, then the biography, it would allow for a more critical examination of what Herndon wrote. Wilson and Davis did the heavy work for the reader in this edition, and given that they were also responsible for Informants, I would trust their critical eyes over many others. Especially since neither seem to be infected with the dreaded "anti-Herndon bias virus."

Best
Rob