This is a great book about Lincoln's political career in the years leading up to the Civil War. Baringer's focus in this book, as suggested by the title, is how Lincoln rose from relative obscurity as a prairie lawyer (and single-term Congressman) to President of the United States. Baringer does a wonderful job showing the importance of public perception, the press, and Lincoln's speeches, especially during the Lincoln-Douglas debates. These debates helped put Lincoln on the national stage. The one shortcoming of this book, in my opinion, is that it does not show how Lincoln reached the prominence in the Illinois Republican Party in the years from 1854 to 1858 to be put in that position of challenging Stephen A. Douglas for the Senate. In 1856, Lincoln was among those mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, and he received the second highest number of votes. This must be taken into consideration when examining the emergence of Lincoln.

A fairly detailed look at the life of Abraham as recorded in Genesis. This book is organized for small group studies with each chapter focusing on one major section of Abraham's life and study questions at the end. The major focus is the growth of Abraham's walk with God and the lessons we can learn in our similarly fallen lives and circumstances. Abraham committed some big sins! So do we. How does God work even through those to "grow up" Abraham and bring about His promises? That's a big theme in this book.

Occasionally, the author stretches the text to make an illustration. The points made are good and true, but they are not necessarily backed up in the biblical texts studied. I still recommend the book, just be aware of this.

This excellent book explains male reproductive anatomy, its normal functioning and the problems that can occur in a completely accessible way without compromising the medical science. You might buy this book for information on a particular problem or condition but it is well worth reading from cover to cover. If you think science is boring read Dr. Morgentaler's chapter on ejaculation or his explanation of the events leading to the exact moments of fertilization. The drama of these ordinary human biological events is described in heart pounding detail. This book is important because it has the potential to replace widespread ignorance and misinformation with the bright light of scientific understanding.

Ms. Radford has allowed us the opportunity to peak in on intimate meetings of individuals with President Lincoln. From statesmen to soldiers, widows to young boys, Americans who had the opportunity to speak firsthand with Abraham Lincoln while he served as President share a common experience. Each felt as if he had the president's undivided attention and utmost respect. If you're looking for a hero, America still has one in Honest Abe. This book is a treat for history buffs.

I liked the story very much. It was fast paced and interesting. The plot had lots of twists and cliff hangers. I particularly liked the use of Abe Lincoln as a supporting character. This is the Lincoln we don't hear much about, the pre-presidential guy.

The book would be interesting for any lover of the "Indiana Jones" adventure genre but is particularly suited for boys. They will readily identify with the hijinks of the two main characters Jack and Finnigan.

I will be looking for more books from this author. Could this be the beginning of a series?

Burke Davis is my grandfather on my mom's side. My mom, Angela Davis-Gardner, has written two books, "Felice" and "Forms of Shelter". Burke Davis has written 50 or more. I'm 14 now, but when I was about 7 I read Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers. I loved it! I have all of his books and this is the best children's one. I recommend this to see about another side of Abraham Lincoln

"Nancy Hanks of Wilderness Road" by Meridel Le Sueur is, as the subtitle indicates, "A Story of Abraham Lincoln's Mother." Nancy Hanks died when Lincoln was a child living in the wilderness of Indiana. Relatively little is known of Lincoln's family: there is one photograph of his step-mother taken after he was assassinated and another that may or may not be of his father, while Nancy Hanks lies buried in a long forgotten grave somewhere in Indiana. This tale has a real feel for life in the wilderness and there is a poignancy to it as Le Sueur crafts the story of a woman who died young and who could never have imagined that she was setting her little boy on the path to greatness by teaching him to read, write and cipher.

The story is told as something of an argument between the narrator's grandmother and Dennis Hanks, Nancy's cousin. Dennis might have been blood kin, but when Abraham Lincoln was born he inspected the baby and announced he would never amount to much; consequently, anything he has to say on the matter of the life of Nancy Hanks is inherently suspect. It is the grandmother who has always been outraged by the fact that while tales area always told about famous men "no one sings of the women." The Lincolns are their kin are folk that the populist and worker groups Le Sueur wrote about in the 1930's could have understood.

This story is not as powerful as Le Sueur's "The River Road: A Story of Abraham Lincoln," but it is not intended to be. This is a "the strange song of the mother of Abraham Lincoln, the young, the deathless Nancy Hanks"; the other tale tells of the crucible of Lincoln's journey down the Mississippi on a raft to New Orleans. This volume in Le Sueur's Wilderness series was originally published in 1949 and has been reprinted by Holy Cow! Press with 1990 illustrations by Dina Redman. Final note: the photograph of Le Sueur by Judy Olausen on the back cover is one of the more impressive pictures of an author I have seen.

I have--I won't say a love affair--perhaps an endless curiosity about this highly eccentric English family-- their affectations, their passionate beliefs and their highly individual lives. I am a fan of Nancy's skill, fun, and humor in all her books, and I wish I could say Nancy was just as funny, humorous and witty in person as she was in her books. Well, she was all of that, along with selfish, egocentric, cruel and sometimes incredibly brave and devastatingly wistful.

Nancy was born into the minor aristocracy. Her parents, Lord and Lady Redesdale were two smashingly handsome people; he of the towering rages and enthusiasms and she with such perfect detachment, one wondered if her feet touched the earth at all. They had five daughters, all highly original and one son who was killed in WWII. Nancy, the eldest was a best selling novelist; Pam was the loyal farm girl; Diana, the beauty, first married into the Guiness family then the infamous "Nazi" Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, who fell in love with Hitler and Nazism and tried to kill herself; Jessica, who also was a writer, became Americanized (which horrified Nancy) and wrote the "American Way of Death"; and Deborah who became the Duchess of Devonshire.

With this background, it is not hard to see how Nancy developed into an unusual woman. In some ways she had it all. She was an embodiment of the Jazz Age, friend to some of the most interesting people of the 20th century (Evelyn Waugh, Winston Churchill, Charles deGaulle) and finally made enough money to support her very patrician tastes in clothes, homes and fine living. Yet her marriage was a farce, and she had a life-long passion for an unsuitable man who was never going to marry her and most of the time ignored her. With all her fame and all her friends, during her last illness she closed the door to everyone but her sisters who she had mostly ignored (with the exception of Diana) for years. Nancy was a great one to shoot herself in the foot. She longed to be loved, but her malicious humor and savage wit drove people away. She was truly unhappy in her love life, but insisted on a gay, nonchalant face to the world and would allow no one close enough to comfort her.

This biography is lively, but does not contain much we didn't know before. It does a good job evaluating Nancy's literary output. The continuity is poor as the author skips back and forth in time enough to confuse the reader. Nancy's great love was France, and she lived most of her adult life in Paris. But the author's long quotations in French by Nancy and her friends are a little tiresome to the average reader. But all in all, an enjoyable read. I think the reader who likes to read of the upper class in the early 20th century will take pleasure in this book. (well-indexed)
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

This is a stimulating novel. Based on the covenant between God and Abraham, it brings the characters to life, gives them flesh and bone. What would it have been like to be Sarai (Sarah) and married to a guy who went around talking to God? How would a woman of that day react? What if we could read God's mind and understand what the thoughts were that lead to the chosen people? Diski weaves and intriguing dialogue between God and man, and addresses fundamental questions of existence within each of the human characters. The book is intelligently written, witty, and keeps you glued to the page. At only 215 pages, it goes by quick. I think you'll find it fascinating with an occasional splash of humor.

This is a novel about most overlasting topics and themes. I mean love, racism, social and economic differences and above all hope in future and in human beings.
I am presently writing a thesis on it entitled: "Social determinism in Peter Abraham's The Path of Thunder".