Burlingame v. Thomas on New Salem

[Rob Wick]

I finished Thomas's book on New Salem as well as Burlingame's chapter. A few points.

One negative for Thomas was how he often repeated himself unnecessarily. I found myself stopped in the narrative thinking that he just explained that a few pages ago. Also, when Thomas talks about the land deals in New Salem, it bogs down what was an interesting narrative. To grossly simplify a point, I think it's the Ph.D. in Thomas. Reading it also made me realize I have to redouble my efforts on the potential litigation Tarbell was facing over her copyright issues, since I'm pretty pleased with the surrounding narrative on Roland Diller and Tarbell's role in the Lincoln birthplace cabin issue. Going from those issues to the subscription edition issue seems to throw the reader into a brick wall at full speed, because the issue is just so dry.

Burlingame seems to have the advantage over Thomas in that he moves the narrative further along. I alternated between reading from the published book and the online edition, and it's amazing how much was left out. Having access to the footnotes is also much better then having to find them in the back of the book. It helps to understand things much better.

I still would recommend Thomas to anyone wanting to learn about New Salem. The Benjamin Thomas who wrote this book and the one who wrote the single-volume biography almost seem to me to be two different people.

Best
Rob