Richard N Current

[Rob Wick]

Richard Current is one of the canonical Lincoln scholars. Not only did he produce scholarship on his own, he finished James G. Randall's four volume Lincoln the President after Randall died of leukemia in 1953.

Speaking of Randall, David Donald was his most conspicuous student when Donald was at the University of Illinois. It was Randall that suggested Donald write about Herndon for his doctoral dissertation.

As for the quality of Donald's biography, it certainly has earned the praise it has received, but I still think Benjamin Thomas's biography is the best single volume out there. Ronald White's came out after Donald's and honestly it is far better than Donald, in my opinion. As for Burlingame's two-volume biography, what makes it a must for me is the online version that Knox College hosts. It has all the sources that Johns Hopkins wouldn't put in due to space, plus one isn't burdened with the lousy job of binding that Johns Hopkins did.

Allow me to make a pitch also for the single-volume condensation of Carl Sandburg's six-volume biography. It is still in print and even though it isn't as well-written as Sandburg's multiple volumes, it still entices the reader.

Best
Rob