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Donald, David Herbert ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
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Lincoln at Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln's Family Life
Donald, David Herbert
2000 49321 From the Publisher As Lincoln led the nation into the Civil War, managing the Union war effort, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, winning reelection in 1864, and planning the Reconstruction of the South, he also led a private life, defined by his close relationship with his wife and his devotion to his children. Lincoln at Home offers a view into the life of the family through their written correspondence. With a brief account of their years in the White House and the complete collection of all the known letters exchanged by Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, this elegant portrait defines the sixteenth president as a dedicated -- though often a desperately busy and distracted -- family man. Lincoln at Home is an intimate and rare glimpse of the president as husband and father, a cheerful man pinned to the floor while playing with his children, and a desolate man struck down by grief at the death of his son. Beyond this, we are shown a personal side of the man who managed one of the most difficult periods in American history. Publishers Weekly Harvard's Donald, two-time Pulitzer winner and author of the standard biography Lincoln, delivers a frustratingly brief discussion of a complex subject. The mere 32 pages of large-type prose that Donald dedicates to his theme are nowhere near adequate to the task of portraying the bittersweet intensities, banal intrigues and madness that so often defined life within the Lincoln family circle. Donald's essay (previously published in The White House: The First Two Hundred Years) is based on his inaugural lecture in the Presidential Lecture Series at the White House. As such it focuses on the well-known and not always interesting details of the Lincolns' domestic life in the executive mansion: Mary overspending, young Willie and Tad cavorting and Lincoln always tolerating. The second part of this volume is a scant collection of all known letters exchanged between members of the immediate Lincoln family, written by Abraham, Mary and eldest son, Robert. The letters between Abraham and Mary have all been previously published. Like those written by Robert, they do not tell us much. They tend to be brief and are invariably businesslike, and deal with mundane matters (the purchase of clothing, schedules for arrivals and departures, etc.). The price is steep for such slim content; readers seeking more than a glimpse of the Lincoln family should consult the excellent books dedicated more fully to this theme, the most conspicuous being Jean Baker's Mary Todd Lincoln. Agent, Ike Williams, Palmer and Dodge. 4-city author tour. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. New York Times Book Review - David Walton Donald's notes and commentary enliven [the letters], and his essay on the Lincoln White House is a small gem of historical compression, setting Abraham and Mary Lincoln's loneliness and isolation in Washington and their string of domestic tragedies against the panorama of the nation's turmoil- all in under three dozen pages. Synopsis Here is an intimate glimpse of the sixteenth president as husband and father -- a cheerful man when he played with his children; a desolate man struck down with grief at the death of his son. The desperately busy and distracted man who managed one of the most difficult periods in American history was also a dedicated family man. Publishers Weekly Harvard's Donald, two-time Pulitzer winner and author of the standard biography Lincoln, delivers a frustratingly brief discussion of a complex subject. The mere 32 pages of large-type prose that Donald dedicates to his theme are nowhere near adequate to the task of portraying the bittersweet intensities, banal intrigues and madness that so often defined life within the Lincoln family circle. Donald's essay (previously published in The White House: The First Two Hundred Years) is based on his inaugural lecture in the Presidential Lecture Series at the White House. As such it focuses on the well-known and not always Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group 074320199X / 9780743201995
Hardcover Very Good Condition New York
Price:
29.70 USD
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LOOK HOMEWARD: A LIFE OF THOMAS WOLFE
Donald, David Herbert
1990 18745 ABOUT THE BOOK Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly More fully than any previous biographer, Pulitzer Prizewinning historian Donald traces the life and career of the much misunderstood Thomas Wolfe. Interweaving narrative and interpretation, imposing neither moral judgments nor psychoanalytical diagnoses, he presents the novelist as a man of ambiguities and contradictions. Based on seven years' study of Wolfe's papersthe first scholar to be given access to the entire archivehe discusses Wolfe's family background, his passionate yet callous treatment of Aline Bernstein, his ambivalent relationships with colleagues, his drunken brawls and sordid liaisons with prostitutes and female admirers, his bigotry and anti-Semitism. But, since the book is primarily a study of the creative process and of Wolfe's evolution as a writer, Donald is equally open about the novelist's literary deficiencies and accomplishments. Acknowledging that his books are remarkably uneven, and that he ``wrote more bad prose than any other major writer," Donald deduces that Wolfe was a self-conscious writer, who thought much about his themes and symbols, drew up detailed outlines of his books and was concerned about their structure. Donald also offers a view of the publishing world and of Wolfe's unusual dealings with his literary agent Elizabeth Nowell and his editors Maxwell Perkins and Edward Aswell, who had to wrest his interminable manuscripts from him and try to turn them into publishable stories and novels. The biographer's opinion of Aswell's ``unacceptable" editorial work on the later novels may shock some readers and scholars: ``Greatly exceeding the professional responsibility of an editor, Aswell took impermissible liberties with Wolfe's manuscripts, and his interference seriously eroded the integrity of Wolfe's text." Donald is likely to win another major prize for this biography. Photos not seen by PW. (February 4) Library Journal Wolfe's editor, Maxwell Perkins, argued that no writer was ever less in need of a biographer, so rich and candid was the autobiographical content of his fiction. Donald is the third biographer in 25 years to gainsay Perkinsand the most successful. Less worshipful than his predecessors, Donald has other advantages, too: full access to Wolfe's papers and the death of most of those whose feelings hitherto had to be spared. What emerges is a forthright but disciplined portrait of an explosive genius and his place in modern American letters. Wolfe's turbulent life, extraordinary learning, surprisingly conscious craft, and complex relations with his editors all affected his artistic development. Donald analyzes these matters without psychological or critical buzzwords but leaves unresolved Wolfe's ultimate literary worth. Little, Brown & Company 0-316-18952-9 / 9780316189521
Hardcover Very Good Boston
Price:
15.75 USD
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