Lincoln Discussion Symposium

I just received it in the mail Tuesday. YOWZAH! for lack of a more elegant word. It's called "Lincoln: An Intimate Portrait" and it is meant to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the assassination.

First of all it is huge, people. I knew it would be a large book but you'd better take your vitamins before attempting to lug it around. It's a hard cover book with about 250 pages of some of the most incredible Lincoln/Civil War era photographs I have ever seen...and in fact many of them I have never seen before.

There are written essay contributions from every end of the political spectrum...former President Bush(the first one) to Andrew Young and many in between. Most of them were deeply moving and inspirational. Several of them brought me close to tears. The overall feel of the commemoration is respectful and thoughtful, with little of the hagiography that always makes me uncomfortable even when reading about people I admire.

I thought I would not be able to afford it when I first heard about it on another board, but I grabbed a copy on Amazon for about $25. So happy I did. LIFE magazine and it's contributing editors have really outdone themselves with this one...majestic and beautiful and intimate all at once.

Shame on me - I almost missed this post (sorry for the late reply) and your wonderful recommendation, Toia! It sounds great! Something to treat oneself for Xmas (regarding the size you hint at I guess the shipping will make a seperate present). Thanks for posting this, Toia!

Hi Eva!

This book is amazing. I guarantee you will be thrilled with it!

Thank you so much for the recommendation! Life magazine always outdoes everyone else when it comes to the photographs, they always have. I can't wait to get this one.

Certainly, in the past, LIFE was the source that brought us many Lincoln finds, e.g., the images of Lincoln's final internment, the deathbed after Lincoln's remains were removed, Lincoln in his coffin in New York City, and many others. The claim in the reviews that it contains "many never before published" gives me pause. Does it mean that it has many more than the Ostendorf book: "Lincoln's Photographs" the images in which, I admit, are not printed on the best-quality paper. I am sure LIFE will present the images on high-quality paper. At $40. retail, or even at the reduced Amazon price, will I be getting something better than Lorant's volumes or Mellon's absolutely superb "Lincoln's Face"?

Please continue to weigh in, specifically about anything new and previously unpublished in the new book, so that all of us can make informed purchase decisions. You are the best sources and critics out there for this type of information. Thanks.

Joe, in the book as a whole there are some period photographs I have not seen before. But, specifically, regarding Abraham Lincoln, Mary, and the boys, I do not think there were any photos that were new to me. The photos are larger than in Ostendorf's book, and (to my eyes, anyway) clearer. The side view that Christopher German took on February 9, 1861, is definitely the clearest I have ever seen of that particular image. I have always been somewhat undecided whether or not it's Booth standing high up behind Lincoln at the Second Inaugural, and there is an image in this book that is so clear that I now lean to it indeed being Booth up there. Sure looks like it's him to me.

I just came back from Barnes and Noble and saw this but in a magazine version. Didn't realize there was a hard cover version.

Hi Carolyn, I saw a magazine version in the supermarket checkout line. All I can say is that it must be a condensed and abridged version because the hardcopy is enormous!