Premium Essay

Abraham Lincoln Book Summary

Submitted By
Words 1118
Pages 5
Abraham Lincoln
James M. McPherson, the author of the book Abraham Lincoln, amazingly summarizes Abraham Lincoln’s life story, from birth to death captivating all the nuances that made Abraham Lincoln not only an American hero but also a marvelous sixteenth president. Throughout the book, McPherson pinpoints the significant turning point throughout Lincolns life allowing the reader to fall in love with Abraham Lincoln but also understand completely who Abraham Lincoln was. Uneasily, McPherson navigated through the Civil War explaining how it started and Lincoln’s involvement.
James M. McPherson starts off by introducing Abraham Lincoln at birth. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hardin, Kentucky. His father, Thomas Lincoln, was an illiterate farmer who favored labor over education. Consequently, every time Abraham Lincoln indulge himself in a book, his father would criticize his actions and label them as laziness. Abraham’s mother, Nancy Hanks, was no different from Thomas Lincoln reasoning being; they were both illiterate and from a low social class. Although, being from a low …show more content…
On the flatboat, Lincoln was introduced to slavery. He grew to hate slavery since all he saw were men and women being dehumanized by being chained up and sold to people as property. Soon after, Abraham Lincoln moved to New Salem, Illinois where he became a store clerk. Once, The Black War erupted Abraham Lincoln volunteered to serve as captain of his volunteer company for three months. After the war, Lincoln then ran for Illinois state legislator but end up losing. Resiliently, two years later he ran again for the same position, but this time he came out victorious. He was apart of the Whigs party in the General Assembly for about eight years. At the same time, Lincoln’s career and desire for law began to thrive. Lincoln the moved to Springfield later the same year on the account of his new

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Evals

...It was exciting to look back into our history at someone who many revere as our greatest leader. Many people today, believe that Abraham Lincoln was and is the greatest President the United States has ever seen. Donald Phillips shares his agreement with this sentiment in his well written book, "Lincoln On Leadership." The book itself was thoroughly enjoyable. It was a very easy read and shared much of President Lincoln's leadership through the eyes and stories of others of that day. This book is a great history lesson of the period of the Civil War and Lincoln's legacy. Through numerous stories, Donald Phillips shares example after example of Lincoln's style of leadership. According to Phillips, "In order to comprehend modern leadership theory and be successful in the future, leaders must look to the past - to President Abraham Lincoln, for example - who routinely practiced nearly all of the 'revolutionary thinking' techniques that have been preached to American industry in the last ten to fifteen years. Lincoln can be looked to as the ideal model for desirable, effective leadership." We would agree for the most part with his assessment of Abraham Lincoln as a leader. This book highlights a number of wonderful leadership characteristics and skills. The one characteristic that seemed to come to the front the most was Lincoln's ability to be a "Servant Leader." Through Lincoln's own writings and words, plus the writings and words of many others it seems clear that he was...

Words: 621 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

W Gienapp Book Report

...Out of the 44 presidents who have served the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln remains one of the most well known and influential. Many simply recognize him as the president who declared “we must free the slaves”, but few people understand Lincoln as a person (110). In the biography “Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America”, Civil War historian William E. Gienapp gives a brief summary of Lincoln's upbringing, development in politics, and time spent during his presidency specifically on the war. Because the book is a biography there is no thesis presented. Instead, Gienapp creates a portrayal of not only Lincoln's life, and examines how Lincoln became an exceptional person and leader. Early on Gienapp offers interesting viewpoints...

Words: 932 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Lincoln's Leadership Strategies

...Book Review of Lincoln on Leadership, Executive Strategies for Tough Times Authored By Donald T. Phillips This report has been completed by Karie Jeisel and Gregory Heintschel DDS For Management 6013, October 2009 Book Overview Author, Donald T. Phillips, wrote Lincoln on Leadership after realizing that many strategies on effective leadership being taught to business leaders today are those which Abraham Lincoln so eloquently employed during his presidency. Phillip’s book points out fifteen different leadership principles that stand the test of time and can be taught and used to improve business strategic planning techniques, models for changing organizations and leadership performance and effectiveness. Abe Lincoln cultivated a deep understanding of the human nature of people. Through this concept, he practiced several principles that led him to meet his goals and his larger vision for the nation to remain united. By spending most of his time with people to understand their nature and motives, Lincoln used the knowledge he gained and his keen ability to persuade in a positive manner rather than using coercive power. His basic philosophy of persuasion, support and delegation was exactly the style of leadership needed to pull the country back to together during the Civil War. Abe appealed to his subordinates’ sense of self-efficacy. He knew the value of making requests and empowering others as opposed to issuing orders. Everyone today can improve his or her leadership...

Words: 2047 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Swiffer

...com/whitepapers/Staffing-Training/Leadership/10-Qualities-that-Made-Abraham-Lincoln-a-Great-Lea 10 Qualities that Made Abraham Lincoln a Great Leader By Catherine L. Moreton, J.D. Capacity to Listen to Different Points of View While researching her Pulitzer Prize winning book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Kearns Goodwin learned that Lincoln had the capacity to listen to different points of view. He created a climate where Cabinet members were free to disagree without fear of retaliation. At the same time, he knew when to stop the discussion and after listening to the various opinions, make a final decision. Ability to Learn on the Job Lincoln was able to acknowledge errors, learn from them, and then move. In this way, he established a culture of learning in his administration, said Kearns Goodwin. Ready Willingness to Share Credit for Success In response to concerns expressed by friends about the actions of some of his Cabinet members, Lincoln stated that the "path to success and ambition is broad enough for two" said Kearns Goodwin. When there was success, Lincoln shared the credit with all of those involved. Ready Willingness to Share Blame for Failure When mistakes were made by members of his Cabinet, Lincoln stood up for them said Kearns Goodwin. When contracts related to the war effort raised serious questions about a member of his administration, Lincoln spoke up and indicated that he and his entire Cabinet were to blame...

Words: 4909 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Capital Budget

... Leadership Styles within Leaders Leadership and Ethics for Managers Brenda Diego Executive Summary There are so many different leadership styles, theories within a leader. Leaders cannot exist without followers, meaning that every leader-follower relationship focuses on give-and-take to some degree. In an organization setting reciprocity and effectiveness of the leader-follower relationship affects performance and influences outcomes. As mentioned above you have Authentic, Ethical, Visionary, Charismatic, Transactional, Transformational, and Situational Leaders. Although I will not write about all of these, Charismatic, Visionary, Transactional, Situational deal with the leaders I chose: Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa.    All leadership characteristics have a lot of similarities, however, different in a lot of ways. Your visionary leader entitles a forward thinking and an innovative approach that inspires leader followers to reshape the future of an organization or an industry. Abraham Lincoln, based off of my research, was a visionary leader who had a dream of what he desired to be done in the future. “He [Abraham Lincoln] had a remarkable ability to communicate his goals…making concepts simple and an understanding of the concerns of the citizens” he listened to what needed to be...

Words: 1082 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Day Lincoln Was Shot Summary

...Book Review: “The Day Lincoln Was Shot” Nicole True “The Day Lincoln Was Shot” by Jim Bishop takes its readers on a captivating journey through the events that took place leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s death. The unique writing approach taken by the author presents a detailed hour by hour summary of the day when president Lincoln was killed, beginning with the morning of Friday, April 14th, 1865 and ending the following morning. Every chapter represents an hour, though scattered throughout the book are various sections that give insight to the assassination. Some of the most notable extra chapters are, “The Days Before”, “The President”, and “The Conspiracy”. These parts are intended to give enough background information so that the reader is able to make connections and, in Bishop’s words, “[place] the events of the day in context.” Throughout the book the reader examines the step by step course taken by major characters,...

Words: 1262 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

American History

...Chapter 1 Handicapped by History Brief Summary As the first chapter in this long analytical book, chapter one serves as the foundation for the rest of the novel, with a basic premise that “history textbooks make fool out of the students.” It shows how portrayal of historical figures and events in the best light for the reputation of United States leads to biased and distorted historical education. Author’s Viewpoint Loewen uses two examples—Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson—in order to illustrate his point, and I would like to focus on the latter for this analysis. Loewen states that while Woodrow Wilson is often presented as the founder of League of Nations following World War I and the leader of progressive causes like women’s suffrage, textbooks rarely make any reference to racial segregation of federal government and his military interventions in foreign nations (22). Wilson intervened in countries like Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua, and, which set up dictatorship in those nations, but surprisingly documentary evidences only emphasize his role in withdrawing the troops, which sounds ironic considering that he “wasn’t” the one who put the troops in at the first place (25). Instead, textbooks portray his intentions as building up friendship or take a step further and blame the invaded nations themselves (24). Next argument that Loewen makes is that Wilson was a racist who effectively closed the Democratic Party to African Americans, a fact that...

Words: 1719 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Summary Of Thomas Paine And The Promise Of America

...many of his quotes coming from his political reviews and the ideology that have attacked him of his radical ideas about democracy and the advocacy of revolution he brings about social change. In the book “Thomas Paine and the Promise of America,” Kaye elaborates that regardless of the efforts to curb his control of conservatives of virtually every generation since the 1790’s, to most of the America’s liberal movements Paine have been a spiritual father. After providing a brief summary of Paine’s career, Kaye targets on ways his character was shaped, beginning with men was inspired by Paine’s ideas about true democracy. Kaye symbols among several groups of early feminists and abolitionists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson from Transcendental movement. Walt Whitman and Herman Melville are writers, and many others politicians along with Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt a Republican who slandered Paine in the twentieth century. Woodrow Wilson a Democratic did many things without his acknowledgement; and Franklin Roosevelt who is also a Democratic admired Paine by indicating his work to assembly Americans during World War II. Kaye ironically reports that the...

Words: 449 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Bruce Catton

...Bruce Catton,The Civil War. Boston: Mariner Books publishers, 2004. 400 pgs., bibliography, index, maps, illustrations. Bruce Catton was born and raised in Benzonia, he was an American historian who studied at Oberlin College in Ohio. However, he would never finish his degree, with the U.S. entry into World War I, he joined the Navy. Catton became a reporter and wrote for various newspapers after the War. He served with the war production board during World War II. Catton was editor of American Heritage Magazine from 1954 through 1959. Catton won the Pulitzer Prize for historical writing and the National Book Award in 1954. Catton was named senior editor of the magazine in 1959 and held that position until his death. He lived in New York City till the age of 78 with his wife Hazel H. Cherry. She died of a heart attack in 1969 at the age of 69. His other books included The War Lords of Washington, U.S. Grant and the American Military Tradition and Mr. Lincoln's Army just to name a few. Catton’s thesis was that, in the 1860’s the Americans thought that they were the luckiest and happiest people in the world; he believed that the civil war was the end of America’s golden age of innocence. There were two different societies that had developed in America, the South and the North. One of the differences was the institutionalization of slavery in the South. The Kansas-Nebraska Act would set up the snowball for war. All other problems and differences between the North...

Words: 1019 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Pro-Slavery In James Mcpherson's Battle Cry Of Freedom

...Introduction There have been numerous assessments of the events which occurred during the Civil War from 1861-1865, but none seem to justly satisfy the absolute, complete, and thorough accounts of James McPherson’s extremely detailed book, Battle Cry of Freedom. McPherson recounts the entire story of the Civil War, stresses on themes such as slavery and writes with a style of contingency to help create a deep study of all of the events- what did and did not happen. Battle Cry of Freedom is a masterful, fast paced retelling and remembrance that comes in the shape of a detailed resource. Published in 1988, it is critically acclaimed for its ability to provide in-depth factual storytelling. The amount of thought put into this expansive book by McPherson is researched meticulously as it calls for the skills of cogitation and contemplating. McPherson is a political...

Words: 2005 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Outcomes of the Civil War

...implemented? These are questions that are not easy to answer. These questions demand speculation and assumptions that are not provable. The best guesses of different outcomes are all we have to work with. The first question, what if the Confederates had won, has many different outcomes. The most likely outcome of this is that the United States would have become five different countries. The Union and the Confederates are obvious but Texas and California would have pushed to become sovereign countries. Utah would have become the fifth country by becoming a Church State. The northwest States probably would have rejoined the Union in the 1930’s due to the Great Depression. Abraham Lincoln may not have been assassinated since John Wilkes Booth did not have a motive for the killing. Lincoln would have finished his career as a senator after twenty years. He would have written his memoirs after the war with many thousands of copies sold mainly in the south. Robert E. Lee would have become Confederate President Jefferson Davis's special envoy to the United States. But the strain of the job, and trying to maintain friendly relations with a former enemy, would have led to an early death in 1870. All five countries would have participated in World War Two but each would have had their own commanders. General Dwight D. Eisenhower would have commanded the forces from Texas, while General George s. Patton would have led the Confederate forces. General Omar Bradley would...

Words: 1517 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Guided Reading

...Waldo Emerson: Transcendentalism: How did Second Great Awakening preachers like Finney adopt portion of Emerson’s philosophies regarding man? How did the main teachings of Transcendentalism differ from the teachings of most Protestant faiths of the time? Emerson’s Literary Influence (For each author describe their main literary focus and delineate between fiction or nonfiction) Henry David Thoreau: Margaret Fuller: Walt Whitman: Nathaniel Hawthorne: Herman Melville: Rural Communalism and Urban Popular Culture Utopias: Communalists: Shakers: marriage? Socialism: property ownership? Humphrey Noyes and Oneida: perfectionism: marriage? Joseph Smith: Mormonism: What was summary of Book of Mormon? How were Mormons accepted by those outside of their faith and what did this lead them to do? Brigham Young: Abolitionism -Skip (We will cover this in class) The Women’s Rights Movement Women became involved in what aspects of public life? What was meant by the statement that women belonged in a “separate sphere” from men? What role did women play in improved conditions in: Prisons: Asylums: Education Reform: Abolitionist Movement: Domestic Slavery: Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Describe the Seneca Falls Convention: What issues were discussed?...

Words: 398 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Frederick Douglass As A Hero Essay

...“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” - Abraham Lincoln. Italic nerd Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass explain connects to this quote on a deep level. Although this book has many social issues, power is the one that stands out. Slaves were controlled by white people, only because they thought they had more power over them. When actually they didn’t. If the white people didn’t have power, things would have been drastically different. Even though the whites thought they had power over blacks, we still had many black heros help change the future for other generations. Frederick Douglass was one of those heros. Frederick Douglass was perhaps the most powerful and influential black American of his time. In summary, white males in America sometimes abuse their power. From slavery to present day, white people are privileged and are accepted more in America, which makes them feel higher and more powerful. This is important because caucasians in America abusing their power is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed because it oppresses black people. Readers can learn how privileged white people are and how they take advantage from the benefits of being privileged....

Words: 504 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

History of the Illuminati Master Conspiracy W/ Annotated Bibliography

...History of the Illuminati Master Conspiracy In dealing with an emotionally-charged topic such as conspiracy, to avoid confusion it is necessary to begin with a definition of the concept. Conspiracy is a human activity involving more than one person. The parties to this activity are advancing basically the same or common objectives, and are advancing objectives which, by very reasonable standards, are personally harmful, evil or destructive. And, finally, they're doing all this either in secret or without fully advertising in advance what they're planning to do, and certainly not to their potential victims. It is also important to note that the definition says the parties to a conspiracy are doing the same things, or advancing common objectives, but not at all necessarily are they all doing so for the same personal reasons or motivations. So the essential focus of conspiratorial research should be on the actions of individuals, not merely their backgrounds or organizational affiliations. Down through the ages there have been many secret societies and conspiratorial movements desired absolute rule of the world, the overthrow of all existing governments, and the final destruction of all religion. It is possible to trace the origins and developments of these many movements, such as the early anti-Christian mysticism of the Gnostics; the conspiracy against orthodox Islam and for world power that was founded by Hasan Saba in Persia in 1090 A.D. as the Order of the Assassins; the...

Words: 5399 - Pages: 22

Premium Essay

Leadership

...A Vision to 21st century leadership The ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. --Martin Luther King Jr. Abstract: Great quotes, great literature, great historical leaders, but still world is exploring the real essence of leadership. When we talk about leadership skills what exactly do we mean? Leadership skills are tools, behaviors and capabilities that a person need in order to be successful at motivating and directing others. Yet true leadership skills involve something more; the ability to help people grow in their own abilities. It can be said that the most successful leaders are those that drive others to achieve their own success. There are many leadership styles and has lot many leadership qualities attributed to the styles. Which one is perfect and what qualities make a good leader is slowly becoming the context and situation oriented. The dynamics and characteristics of this 21st century world are greatly varied than previous centuries. As the society becomes faster paced and dynamic the problems and challenges are also evolving in rapid fashion, making them even more difficult to resolve. People perception and demands on their leadership is also changing fast. They demand new styles of leadership which provide solutions, not necessary an autocratic way but a blend of different styles and qualities to suite these dynamic, challenging, complex 21st and future...

Words: 5442 - Pages: 22