So... do I... need... to get... "A Life?"

Sorry. It just begged the question.
I am looking at the reviews on Amazon for Michael Burlingame's "Abraham Lincoln: A Life" and they seem pretty unanimous. (I know titles of books should be underlined but I couldn't get that to work.)

I can't afford to be a collector. I have neither money nor room for thousands of books. I do want a resource I can go to with assurance of accuracy and truth. Is this it?

Does it read well? I liked David Herbert Donald's style.

Its $125. 2008 pages.

I did search the forum and followed several links outside the forum but did not find a thread specifically on Burlingame.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Mark,

For someone who wants just a few solid books on Lincoln, I think it's completely possible to get by without Burlingame's book. Donald and Ronald C. White as well as Benjamin Thomas, Carl Sandburg (single volume) and Stephen Oates have all provided serviceable life histories of varying qualities. The only reason I would suggest getting Burlingame's book (which is available online in manuscript form) would be for someone who simply wants it, or plans to do serious research. The cost and some issues with the binding which affected some of the earlier copies of the book gives it some issues.

Of course, I have over 300 books on Lincoln, so not buying another one is out of the question.

Thanks, Rob. I do like the idea that Burlingame researched the unpublished notes of the famous authors, Tarbell included I think.

I have the Thomas book but not read it yet. I will decide on getting A Life after that one. Thanks and Happy New Year!

(12-31-2012 05:46 PM)Mark MacKenzie Wrote:  I am looking at the reviews on Amazon for Michael Burlingame's "Abraham Lincoln: A Life" and they seem pretty unanimous. (I know titles of books should be underlined but I couldn't get that to work.)

Are you using Firefox, Mark?

I am, Linda. The tag said undefined instead of underline. Is that a Firefox issue? Very astute of you.

Thank you, but Roger guided me how to get around Firefox.

All you have to do is put the html code into your post. If you want to italicize a word or phrase, put [/i] AFTER the last word and [i] before the first word.

Use [/b] and [b] for bold. Do not click on the Bold or Italic buttons.

I don't know what the underline code is as I don't use it.

I'm having the very same problems..... Firefox just decided to "stop working" in regards to the italics, centering, etc..... you have to code your own - wish Mozilla would fix this! It's aggravating!

Hmmm..... let's see.. Abraham Lincoln: A Life

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I see, said the blind man. Thank you.

(12-31-2012 07:39 PM)Mark MacKenzie Wrote:  Hmmm..... let's see.. <u> Abraham Lincoln: A Life </u>

underline - Are you using brackets?

We posted at the same time. Thanks for the underline code.

I did find the brackets. If I could live my life without computers and cellphones, I would. But, I can't.

Thank you all.

I've not read the work. It's looks exhaustive in size. Maybe, like the Sandburg works on Lincoln, a concise one volume edition might be in order at some point?