With Malice Towards None

[Gene C]

Written by Stephen Oates in 1977

A nice, one volume biography of Abraham Lincoln with about 450 pages of text.
Easy to read, flows well. Was a bit light on footnotes. He made a couple of statements that I wanted to see what his source was, but there was not a footnote to tell me.

Here are a few statements from the book that were of somewhat questionable or special interest.

- Incapable of even writing her name, Nancy Hanks signed legal documents with her mark.
- For some reason, Dennis took a disliking to Thomas Lincoln and later falsely characterized him as a slow and shiftless oaf who neglected his family.
- Tall, straight, and light skinned, Sally (Sara) could not write, and probably could not read either.
- Sometime that summer or winter (1828) Lincoln began hanging around the log courthouse in Rockport and Boonville. It was all very exciting to him, a challenging new world that made his adrenaline flow. He was so thrilled, in fact, that he borrowed and read the Revised Statues of Indiana. He also studied the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, observing as he did how frequently Indiana lawyers referred to them.
- it was in a murder trial that Lincoln won his first courtroom victory: he helped secure the acquittal of a Democrat who shot a rival in self-defense.
- Thanks to those rough Globe Tavern days, she (Mary) became terrified of poverty, obsessed with it.

There are several more...

I was able to find an adequate hard copy at the Library Book Sale for $1.
On line bookstores have a much higher price for a decent used hard copy.
A new soft cover is reasonably priced at under $15 (incl. S&H).

[RJNorton]

Gene, I read this book about 25 years ago, and I agree it has a nice flow and is one of the easiest to read among the Lincoln biographies.

However, what I remember most from years ago was the controversy over whether Oates was guilty of plagiarism in the book. One man who thought Oates plagiarized was Michael Burlingame, and he gave some specific examples here.

[Gene C]

More interesting statements from the book

- But the most memorable thing about him (Herndon) was his nonstop chatter, his effusive philosophizing on everything from metaphysics to sex, science and phrenology .. He (Herndon) regarded himself as an expert psychologist and bragged about his "dog-sagacity", and "mud-instinct", which enabled him to divine other men's inner secrets....A man of causes and a leader in the local temperance movement, he was still a hard drinker and in his later years became an alcoholic.

- For his part, Herndon was fascinated with Lincoln, observed his ways and moods, and haughtily presumed that he understood Lincoln better than Lincoln understood himself.

- Back at the White House, he (Lincoln) informed Mary that she could relax now his victory (re-election) seemed assured. Then he retired to his own chamber and tried to sleep. Unknown to him, Ward Hill Lamon came to Hay's room armed with pistols, bowie knives, borrowed some blankets lay down in the hall outside Lincoln's door. Lamon was afraid that somebody might try to assassinate the President now that he was re-elected. The next morning, he left before Lincoln awoke, leaving the blankets at Hay's door.