William Henry Herndon

Jesse William Weik

The True Story of a Great Life ... The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln

Herndon's Lincoln

The True Story of a Great Life

Abraham Lincoln

Terry Wilson

Douglas Lawson Wilson

Rodney O. Davis

For twenty-five years after the president's death William Herndon, his law partner, conducted interviews with and solicited letters from dozens of persons who knew Lincoln personally.

Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln

Herndon's Informants

Weik's History of Putnam County, Indiana

William H. Herndon aspired to write a faithful portrait of his friend and law partner, Abraham Lincoln, based on his own observations and on hundreds of letters and interviews he had compiled for the purpose. Even more important, he was determined to present Lincoln as a man, rather than a saint, and to reveal things that the prevailing Victorian conventions said should be left out of the biography of a great national hero. A variety of obstacles kept Herndon from writing his book, however, and not until he found a collaborator in Jesse W. Weik did the biography begin to take shape. It finally appeared in 1889, to decidedly mixed reviews. Though controversial from the outset, Herndon's Lincoln nonetheless established itself as a classic. This new edition restores the original text, includes two chapters added in the revised (1892) edition, and traces the story of how this landmark biography got written. Extensive annotation affords the reader a detailed look at the biography's sources.

Originally published in 1922, The Real Lincoln is an in-depth look at Abraham Lincoln the man, not the public figure. Acclaimed at the time as an excellent, impartial source book, The Real Lincoln was compiled by Jesse W. Weik through a series of letters and interviews with people who knew the sixteenth president personally as well as their descendents. This is an examination of Lincoln without the weight of history, looking at him as a dynamic figure and illuminating aspects of his life before his presidency. His childhood, his marriage to Mary Todd, his law practice, the way he spent his free time, and his introduction to politics are just some of the subjects covered. In this latest edition of The Real Lincoln, Michael Burlingame has included dozens of original letters and interviews received by Weik between 1892 and 1922 that went into creating this work. Occasionally lighthearted and always insightful, this revealing book will enthrall anyone curious about the human side of the man too often viewed as a monument.

A Portrait

The Real Lincoln

Jesse William Weik

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