Lincoln A Photobiography

Lincoln A Photobiography
Russell Freedman
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publis
Copyright 1989
Pages: 160
Reading Level: 8-12 years
Genre: Biography
Summary:
Freedman tells the life of Abraham Lincoln, but he tells the bad with the good. Lincoln struggled with depression, but he worked through it everytime it came back. He was disorganized, but he knew where all his things were. Lincoln was a country boy who taught himself, he had very little formal schooling, but was a lawyer and when he was president, he taught himself battle tactics and took an active role as executive chief of the armies. At Ford's theater, his body guard was watching the performance and not the president, Boothe shot him and was eventually shot himself. The people of the west stood silent as the train passed that carried his body to it's final resting place. Years later the contents of Lincoln's pockets was unsealed, they were a pocket knife, a handkerchief, a button, a fob watch, two pairs of glasses, a pencil, a wallet, newspaper clippings, and a confederate $5 bill
Recommendations and Conflict:
I would recommend this book to a student who would be able to relate to Lincoln better because of his faults and that he was able to live with them and become a great man in history. The conflict I see with this book is its openness with the faults of Lincoln and not allowing children to have a role model with out faults, also the pictures of the battle field are graphic
Reactions:
I enjoyed this book. Seeing the faults of a great man will have one of two effects 1) less respect of him for the faults, or 2) more respect for him because he worked through his faults. I fell under the second category.