There are some who consider Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln the two greatest writers in American history- and not in that order. Others have compared Lincoln's eloquence to none other than Shakespeare. Both are wonderful compliments, and in my mind highly accurate. Abraham Lincoln was a master of the English language.

This is a nice single volume of Lincoln's best known writings. It has all the great speeches you have heard of (Gettysburg Address, etc.)plus many the non specialist might have missed. If you are a specialist, you probably already own Roy Basler's nine volume set of Lincoln's writings. If you do not, this fine volume will suit you nicely and help you to understand why Lincoln is the revered man that he is.

This is a great book. I think the introduction is the best. It is interesting plus you really feel Lincoln was a man of the people. My favorite part was when Lincoln had one of his sons in a wagon. Lincoln was so much in his thoughts that the child fell out and was crying loudly and Lincoln kept walking dragging an empty wagon behind him.

I have a large Civil War library, and if there was a fire, this is the one Lincoln book I would try to rescue. Despite being written almost 50 years ago, the book's strong point is not its selection of Lincoln's writings (although that is quite good), but its masterful biographical sketch of Lincoln by Stern. Almost seven score since Lincoln's death, there is still no other satisfying BRIEF biography. In about 200 pages, Stern has managed to capture, in skilfull prose, all the important facts while still having room for some less-wordy, interesting comments. Each important event is succinctly captured in a couple paragraphs. I like that Stern actually calls Lincoln "neurotic" in certain personal aspects. I also like his passages on Willie Lincoln's death, emancipation, and the war's closing. There's really not enough room for any heavy politically-influenced interpretations of issues like those in modern long biographies,and that's why Stern's sketch can't be considered outdated. Some people may not like the short description of Lincoln's assassination, and I thought Stern spent too much ink on Lincoln's final attempts to compensate the South. Since the book predates the most comprehensive, closely-inspected collection of Lincoln's letters, there may be some inaccuracies in the writings reproduced here. However, the selection is an excellent one, linked together well with intros by Stern. I can't imagine this was an easy job for Stern and I'm lost why it's been virtually ignored. But all in all, I can only repeat, if you want to know the most about Lincoln in the fewest words, and have your interest held throughout, just buy this book and you're set!

It was the story I had been looking for all my life! A good man, ambitious. But so busy helping others, life seems to pass him by. Despondent. He wishes he had never been born. He gets his wish. Through the eyes of a guardian angel he sees the world as it would have been had he not been born. Wow! What an idea. The kind of idea that when I get old and sick and scared and ready to die -- they'll say, 'He made The Greatest Gift.' -Frank Capra

I'm sure your family does it too, sit around watching It's a Wonderful Life and speaking all of the lines moments ahead of the characters. Younger folk may not recall that in the early 80's, before Republic Pictures reclaimed the copyright to the movie, it was on literally dozens of times from Thanksgiving to New Years every year. And we all watched it, every single showing. Somehow the upbeat message about the individual's capacity to change the world for the better achieved a special resonance in those heady Reagan Era days of promise. Now it's shown on a network just once a season as an attempt at Event programming, but every red blooded American family owns a videotape and pops it in at least a few times over the holidays.

Turns out, the movie was based on a story by respected Civil War historian, Philip Van Doren Stern (one assumes he's from The Van Doren family of Quiz Show fame). The story sprang full blown from Van Doren's head while he was shaving on the morning of Feb. 12, 1938. He rewrote it several times and then in 1943 sent it to his agent to see if he could get a magazine to buy it. Unbelievably, they all turned it down. So he had a couple hundred copies made and sent them to friends in their Christmas cards. Someone showed the story to Frank Capra when he was looking for a project after the War ended and, if the quote above is to be believed, he instantly realized that he had an American classic in his hands.

The story itself is much more spare than the movie. Characters like Uncle Billy, Violet Bick, Ernie and Bert and even Mr. Potter are all missing. But the essential tale, of George Pratt contemplating suicide and a guardian angel intervening to show him the effect he has had on the lives of others, remains. This is one of those rare instances where a movie actually improves upon the written version, but the story is still quite affecting and has obvious historical interest.

GRADE: B

MOVIE GRADE: A+

Written during WWII, to give Americans an idea of what they were fighting for, Pocket Book of America is a collection of patriotic short stories, essays, speeches, sayings and slogans. Some of the stories may be a bit dated; but "The Man without a Country," is still a must read. I memorised Lincoln's Gettysburg Address from this book. Overall, it is a good source of written Americana.

Secret Missions of the Civil War was a very good book. I did not expect it to be anywhere near how good it actually was. It was very interesting and entertaining. The fact that the book is actually comprised of quite a few short stories on different secret missions makes it all the more interesting. The book never had a chance to get boring because the stories were constantly changing. There were many things I found out about in this book that I never knew about at all. Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone at all interested in the Civil War. It is entertaining, yet you can still learn something from it.

When news of the firing upon Ft. Sumter by General P.G.T. Beauregard reached James Bulloch, he offered his services to the Confederate government at once. He was assigned by President Davis to build a navy on government account. This book is Bulloch's narrative of his experiences.

The strongest element of this book is that it sheds light on what would otherwise be very little known facts of the war. Bulloch's contacts with Stephen Mallory and other high ranking Confederates give rarely seen insights into the service he and his fellow agents performed. It is important to note that Bulloch's work is not about the sea exploits of the ships he contracted, but about the work that was done in making financial arrangements and fitting the ships for sea. The author goes into a great amount of detail in all the contracts that he undertook while in Europe. He also adds accounts of other agents when needed, but always stresses to the reader that those accounts are second hand.

The reviewer's main complaint with this work is that a large section is devoted to the Geneva Arbitration occurring after the war. Bulloch seems to be rather defensive in regard to U.S. complaints made against him. Although fairly readable, this section of the book is not really necessary for understanding Confederate operations and does not advance the narrative. Another small complaint is that Bulloch will sometimes tell the reader of key elements far in advance of the narrative time frame. This can be frustrating, as what would have been an exciting twist in the plot has been alluded to eighty pages beforehand.

Only the above mentioned flaws kept this book from a five-star rating. It is a readable account of Confederate operations in Europe and highly recommended for any person who wishes to further their knowledge of the aforementioned.