Jan Morris has died today.

[LincolnMan]

The most unusual book I ever read on Lincoln was “Lincoln:A Foreigner's Quest” by Jan Morris. This was nearly 20 years ago if I recall correctly. She compared Lincoln to grape jelly. She never claimed to be a scholar but her book was very likable.

[Gene C]

Here is the Amazon site.
https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Foreigner...oks&sr=1-1

The "Look Inside" section has sample pages of the first chapter with some "grape jelly" comments.

[David Lockmiller]

The most unusual book I ever read on Lincoln was “Lincoln:A Foreigner's Quest” by Jan Morris. This was nearly 20 years ago if I recall correctly. She compared Lincoln to grape jelly. She never claimed to be a scholar but her book was very likable.

"She compared Lincoln to grape jelly."

All that I can say to that is: "Spread yourself, Mr. President Abraham Lincoln!"

---

Here is the Amazon site.
https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Foreigner...oks&sr=1-1

The "Look Inside" section has sample pages of the first chapter with some "grape jelly" comments.

A unique and stimulating combination of travel journal, fully researched biography, and insightful history, from a respected travel writer, features an exploration of the many facets of the Lincoln legend including the myths, the man's wit, and his many tragedies.

Sounds like a very good book to read. I like especially the fact that she is described as "a respected travel writer."

On the first page of the book review, it reads: "Brash and skeptical when she first came to the United States in the 1950's, Jan Morris cast a dubious eye on the saintly image of Abraham Lincoln and the log-cabin-to-White-House legend that surrounded him. . . -- her first book on America since the acclaimed Manhattan '45."

It will be interesting to read how she came to overcome her skepticism.

[David Lockmiller]

The New York Times reported today (Jan Morris, Celebrated Writer of Place and History, Is Dead at 94) about the transition of James Morris to Jan Morris.

Ms. Morris asserted that every aspect of existence changed with her transition. The more she was treated as a woman, the more she behaved — in her own estimation — as a woman.

“If I was assumed to be incompetent at reversing cars, or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found myself becoming,” she wrote. “If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I found it so myself.” She added, “I discovered that even now men prefer women to be less informed, less able, less talkative, and certainly less self-centered than they are themselves; so I generally obliged them.”

P.S. I found nothing in the New York Times article referencing her book on Abraham Lincoln.