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Summary
Summary
Abraham Lincoln was devoted to his country--and to his family. President Lincoln called America a house divided, but he struggled to keep his own home united. It would prove to be an impossible task. Sickness, loss, and family tensions overwhelmed Abraham, Mary, and their four sons. Opening up the Lincoln family album, noted Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer highlights the family's heartaches and happiness. Illustrated with archival photographs and backed by extensive primary source material, this compelling NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book illuminates the private lives of four generations of a prominent American family.
Author Notes
Harold Holzer is one of the leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. He is a prolific writer and lecturer. He has written, co-written and edited over 30 books including Abraham Lincoln, The Writer (2000), which was named to the Children's Literature Choice List and the Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year, and Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President (2004), which won a 2005 Lincoln Prize. He has also written over 425 popular magazine and scholarly journal articles and numerous pamphlets and monographs. He has won numerous awards including the Barondess Award of the Civil War Round Table of New York five times; the Award of Achievement from the Lincoln Group of New York three times; a 1988 George Washington Medal; the 2000 Newman Book Award; and the 2008 National Humanities Medal. He is the Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5 Up-Holzer offers a captivating peek into the lives of Lincoln and his sons: Robert, Eddie, Willie, and Tad. Lincoln's career in law and politics, his election as the 16th president, and his years in the White House during the Civil War form the basis of this book, but it is his family life that is its nucleus. Lincoln and his wife, Mary, adored their four boys and indulged their spirited ways, often to the chagrin of neighbors and Lincoln's law clients. It is a story of tragedy. Eddie died at age four and Willie died while the family lived in the White House. Tad died as a teenager, after his father's death. Robert, the only child to live to adulthood, attended Harvard College, served on Grant's staff at the end of the Civil War, was a successful lawyer in Chicago, and served in various government positions including minister to Great Britain. It was during this posting that Robert's son, Abraham Lincoln II, died. There are no living Lincoln descendants today. The captioned black-and-white illustrations and reproductions that are lavishly spread throughout the book are excellent. A lengthy bibliography and meticulous notes round out this marvelous volume. A unique book, this is a must-have for all libraries.-Patricia Ann Owens, Illinois Eastern Community Colleges (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Holzer scaffolds this latest entry in Lincoln lore with family events, using Lincoln's role as father as the main support. Although this provides an appealing and unusual hook, the approach is occasionally awkward. Many events of Lincoln's life happen without family, while events involving family sometimes become repetitive. Tad, for instance, here constantly interrupts the business of state, though in this case these recurrences serve a purpose: Lincoln's benign parenting and dotage on young Tad are evident, as are Tads severe learning and behavior problems. Robert, the oldest child, is neglected and often scorned, points Holzer makes by first showing how Bob became disdainful of his family, rarely seeing his father because of Lincoln's "devotion to business," and receiving a public, humiliating dressing down when he misplaced Lincoln's inauguration speech. Willie, so like his father, is clearly the favorite child whose death devastated the president. Some photographs appear out of context, but the ample number adds interest if not continuity. The family account concludes with the last surviving Lincoln (Bob Beckwith, d. 1985) and is appended with a bibliography, source notes, an index, and picture credits. betty carter (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Trailing the stampede of Lincoln-bicentennial studies, this profile of "the clan that might have become America's royal family but instead became America's cursed family" offers both a wagonload of fascinating period photos and a case study in domestic tragedy and dysfunction. Leading Lincoln scholar Holzer portrays his presidential paterfamilias as an absentee saintaway on business for much of his four sons' formative years but ever loving and gentle with his notably histrionic wife and an indulgent pushover who let his lads run hog wild. Conversely, though devastated by 3-year-old Eddie's death in 1850 and 11-year-old Willie's in 1862, his relations with Robert (the eldest and the only child to live past his teens, presented here as thoroughly unlikable) were distant at best. If the author sometimes hobbles his narrative with fussy details, he also tucks in such intimate touches as samples of homely verse from both parents and children and finishes off with quick looks at all of the direct descendants. A natural companion for Candace Fleming's fineThe Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary(2008). (endnotes, adult-level bibliography) (Biography. 11-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Holzer takes readers inside the Lincoln household and describes individuals as well as family dynamics from the time of Abraham Lincoln's marriage to Mary Todd until the time of her death. He vividly portrays the personalities of their children, known in the family as Bob, Eddy, Willie, and Tad, while pointing out their father's surprisingly broad indulgence of their many escapades and their mother's often volatile emotional states. Of the Lincolns' four sons, only the eldest lived to adulthood. After commenting on Bob's later life, the epilogue traces his descendants into the third (and final) generation. Large, well-captioned photos and reproductions of period drawings and prints illustrate the text. Source notes for quotes and an extensive source bibliography are appended. This clearly written book offers young people a different view of Lincoln's personality as well as an unusually detailed portrayal of children growing up in the mid-1800s. A solid addition to American history collections.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
