Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, which was published by Fall River Press in 2017, has been named “Best Lincoln Biography for Young People” by Tom Peet and David Keck, authors of Reading Lincoln.
I’m back from my post-manuscript submission break. I took a week to decompress, which turned into a week of long-haul driving and visiting with family. I hadn’t seen my immediate family for over a year. I also met up with extended family and one friend I hadn’t seen since I was about 20 (in one case, probably a young teenager).
Immediately upon my return (driving through a tropical storm, no less), I ordered the Peet and Keck book. I had bought the first edition when it came out several years ago. The current volume is listed as the 3rd Edition, but Tom tells me that this edition as actually been revised six times since it was released. It now is a whopping 766 pages containing 550 reviews of books about Abraham Lincoln. I read a ton of Lincoln books – 25 to 35 a year – but this volume is an amazing achievement in itself. Unlike some reviewers who skim books, Peet and Keck read deeply into each book and write insightful reviews. I can appreciate their effort since I take copious notes on most Lincoln books I read and write book reviews for The Lincolnian (the Lincoln Group of DC newsletter) and the Lincoln Herald, as well as for Civil War Times and other outlets.
In their review, Peet notes that with the book I have “accomplished something never done before,” adding that I have “created the Swiss-army knife of Lincoln biographies and much, much more.” In reaching their recommendation as the best biography for young people, Tom notes “there are pictures, pictures, and more pictures. Hundreds of them (paintings, lithographs, newspapers, maps, tintypes, sketches).” He ends the review with:
“There is nothing like this book on the market and I highly recommend it.”
Tom also notes in his review a few lines that he thinks could be controversial, and indeed, two or three readers have referenced the same short paragraph near the end of the book. I’ve addressed this point before, and plan to revisit it a future post, but Tom notes that what I argue is “objectively true.”
The Peet and Keck volume, of course, reviews more than my book. With over 1,500 Lincoln books on my shelves as I write this, I’m eager to see how many they have reviewed that I’m missing. This volume is a wonderful resource to check before buying new Lincoln books. Tom mentions that its size has reached a maximum capacity for binding, but I’m hopeful he’ll start a new volume containing only books not already included in this edition. He can include my forthcoming book, tentatively due out in February 2022. More on that soon.
David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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