Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Volume One

By: Michael Burlingame

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

In the first multivolume biography of Abraham Lincoln to be published in decades, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame offers a fresh look at the life of one of America's greatest presidents. Incorporating the field notes of earlier biographers along with decades of research in multiple manuscript archives and long-neglected newspapers, this remarkable work will both alter and reinforce our current understanding of America's 16th president.

Volume 1 covers Lincoln's early childhood, his experiences as a farm boy in Indiana and Illinois, his legal training, and the political ambition that led to a term in Congress in the 1840s. In Volume 2, Burlingame examines Lincoln's life during his presidency and the Civil War, narrating in fascinating detail the crisis over Fort Sumter and Lincoln's own battles with relentless office seekers, hostile newspaper editors, and incompetent field commanders. Burlingame also offers new interpretations of Lincoln's private life, discussing his marriage to Mary Todd and the untimely deaths of two sons to disease. But through it all - his difficult childhood, his contentious political career, a fratricidal war, and tragic personal losses - Lincoln preserved a keen sense of humor and acquired a psychological maturity that proved to be the North's most valuable asset in winning the Civil War.

This landmark audiobook establishes Burlingame as the most assiduous Lincoln biographer of recent memory and brings Lincoln alive as never before.

©2016 Michael Burligame (P)2016 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"A magisterial enterprise." (William Safire, The New York Times)

Fantastically in-depth

A book made for people like me who crave detail in their nonfiction and biographies especially. It's full of amusing anecdotes, insight into antebellum America and the West especially, and really brings Lincoln's personality and world to life with vivid description.

I found the psychoanalyzing incredibly annoying at times ("Lincoln may have mistrusted women because of his abandonment issues following his mother's death" and such) but the author's use of direct quotations and citing of first and secondhand sources throughout the book really makes it stand out among other well-regarded biographies.

Exceptionally entertaining and moving

I can’t recommend this book more. I only thought I knew the story of Honest Abe until I listened to this. By the end I was absolutely enraptured and moved to tears. Though not a believer myself, there is something of the Divine that radiates from Lincoln, as many of his contemporaries describe and are catalogued in this book. I have such a deep appreciation for his morality, humility, and sense of duty.

Excellent, informative & interesting

Gives a wonderful look into the making of a giant of character that would shape modern thought of a modern country. He overcomes challenges with persistent effort & grows into one of the greatest presidents ever to be of any nation.

Quite thorough, a little dry

The book is a deep dive into Abe pre-presidency. Well researched, but I found that many of the political side stories weren't all that enthralling 160 years later. Probably a better speed read than a book on tape.

History at its most detailed Best

This is a detailed and meticulously documented book and his story is told from every angle. Not only did I learn about Abraham Lincoln, and I’ve read 2 other Biographies recently, but I learned much about the reasons and causes of the Civil War. This is an excellent book if you’re intellectually curious and I can hardly wait to start Volume II.

This one ends with him boarding the train for Washington, DC in Springfield. The narrator is especially talented in delivering the various voices and comments from the various people in his life with accents north and south male and female accurately rendered.