Book Review- Abraham Lincoln by Thomas Keneally

Keneally's brief biography of Abraham Lincoln, part of the Penguin Lives series, paints a mixed review of 16th President of the United States. As portrayed by Keneally, Lincoln was either a devout Calvinist or he questioned the very existence of God. He was either a lifelong abolitionist whose sole purpose as President was to end slavery or slavery was simply an issue to be dealt with as his main Presidential objective was to keep the Union together. He either married Mary Todd out of love for her or he simply married her because his options for marriage were limited.

A benefit of the biographies in the Penguin Lives series is that the reader gets to see a brief and broad review of an individual's life. However, the difficulty with books of this sort, as with all biographies of the deceased, is that they are really compilations of the works of others. The author/compiler can paint the subject of the work in whatever light they choose.

What is not contested is that Abraham Lincoln was driven by a thirst for knowledge and information and made obvious his desire to rise above the agrarian-trade economy and society in which his harsh and uneducated father, Thomas Lincoln, raised him. Keneally shares a memorable story to this effect on page 9. As a teenager, Abraham Lincoln, while manning a cockboat that ferried passengers attempting to catch oncoming steamers at the confluence of the Anderson and Ohio Rivers, had two men toss a silver half-dollar into his boat as they exited to board a steamer. Keneally notes that years later in the White House, Lincoln would say of this moment "Gentlemen, you may think a very little thing...but it was the most important incident in my life. The world seemed wider and fairer to me". While one might think being elected President of the United States was Lincoln's brightest moment, he found his enlightenment of a more diverse world that was to become available to him to be his life's shining moment.

At under 200 pages, obviously a sketch of Lincoln's life, Keneally's book is worth the read.