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Gene C · (This post was last modified: 03-03-2021 02:48 PM by Gene C.)

Written by William O Stoddard, one of Lincoln's secretary's.
The book is about 180 pages long, originally written in 1890.

While this may not be an essential book on Abraham Lincoln it's close.
It is written in a different style. He writes as if he was having an informal conversation with you, giving your a tour of the White House and the events that have transpired. He writes about many of Washington officials without mentioning their name, as if you knew who he was talking about. It does take a little getting used to, and you do have to pay attention to what he says or he will loose you, but it is an easy book to read. Not overly detailed.

The book mainly describes the activities he handles, life inside the White House and around Washington DC, but not a day to day description of Lincoln's activities. One of Stoddard's responsibilities is the opening of the White House mail, especially Mary's mail. He seems to have a better relationship with Mary than almost anyone else in the White House. He seems to understand better than most the pressure Mary is under, her mood swings. Stoddard also briefly describes all the hate mail both Lincolns get.

He does a good job of describing Lincoln's work routine, pressure he is under, and
his personality while in the White House. Not big on details, but enough information to realize what an incredibly difficult job this was for Lincoln.

My only complaint, there is no index. After reading this book, I've become a Stoddard fan and hope to obtain some of his other books on Lincoln.
In some future posts I'll add some of the specific passages of this book that I think you will find interesting.

Stoddard's books, when you can find them are not cheap. This is one of the more affordable ones. My copy is a new softbound reprinted copy purchased from Amazon for $8.95 - The Amazon book preview is pretty good.
https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Lincolns-W...730&sr=8-2

It's also available on Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/insidewhiteh...9/mode/2up