Biographies “Book reviews: Lincoln biographies from McGovern, White - Everything Alabama Blog” plus 3 more

Book reviews: Lincoln biographies from McGovern, White - Everything Alabama Blog
Queen Elizabeth's royal battle - Monsters and Critics
St. Anastasius X - Catholic Online
Bios take on Grace Kelly, Clint Eastwood - Statesman Journal

Book reviews: Lincoln biographies from McGovern, White - Everything Alabama Blog

Posted: 10 Jan 2010 11:49 AM PST

By Press-Register Correspondent

January 10, 2010, 1:49PM

"A. Lincoln: A Biography" by Ronald White Jr. (Random, $35)

"Abraham Lincoln" by George S. McGovern (Times Books, $22)

Reviewed by DAVID HODO, Special to the Press-Register

2009 marked the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Much has been written about our most discussed, if not always beloved, president. "A. Lincoln: A Biography" by Ronald White Jr. and "Abraham Lincoln" by George S. McGovern are two biographies that are excellent, though markedly different from each other.

McGovern Lincon.jpg Jake Roth/Associated PressFormer South Dakota senator George McGovern holds a copy of his book "Abraham Lincoln" in March 2009.McGovern was asked to write his book for The American Presidents Series. His credits as politician and academic are impressive. His book is brief and pointed. The information is accurate. He gets the facts straight. If you knew little about Abraham Lincoln, if you had to review a book for a class regarding Lincoln, this would be a good choice. But McGovern's portrait, though largely accurate, is decidedly one-dimensional. His statement that Lincoln "had almost always met with political disappointment" does not appear to be accurate. He served in the Illinois Senate, the U.S. Congress, and the Presidency, rather remarkable for a man with very limited formal education. McGovern alludes to Lincoln's faith, telling us that the president saw himself as an "instrument of God's will" but then he quickly moves on. What we get is a synopsis of sorts, a succinct portrayal of a remarkably complex man.

"A. Lincoln" is a much larger and more intricate biography. The title comes from the fact that Lincoln often signed his name that way, one of many modest idiosyncrasies that made him endearing. Ronald White has written before on both Abraham Lincoln and Christianity. While the biography is thoroughgoing, it does take a close look at the president's spiritual life.

Lincoln was a fascinating figure in terms of his inner workings. He could and did quote the Bible with great skill from a remarkable memory. Despite this adroitness, he was roundly criticized for not actually belonging to a church. He repeatedly was forced to defend himself against the charge of being irreligious.

He alternated severe melancholy requiring help from his friends (no psychiatry was available at that time) with an iron discipline and an ambition of gargantuan heights. He constantly saw the need for mentors and advisers. He steadily persevered. He had the unique ability to master new subjects when confronted with the need; for instance, he knew nothing about military tactics when he became president, but quickly educated himself. He possessed a remarkable ability to respect others, almost never denigrating an opponent, a discipline that modern politicians would do well to learn.

His ability to focus on a primary task, while assigning associated tasks to a lesser rung, appears to be part of his genius as a politician. He saw saving the Union as a far greater calling than abolishing slavery. He personally opposed slavery, but did not come to embrace emancipation until well into his presidency, and even that was somewhat because of the need to add soldiers to the ranks.

He had a cornucopia of contrasting character traits, some endearing, some perplexing. His genius was in blending them into a coherent whole. He always wanted to be consistent, the same before and after, win or lose. He seems to have succeeded well.

White's book invites comparisons to our current president. Both were elected from Illinois. Both were young when elected. Both possessed great tenacity. Last but not least, both were criticized for their religious beliefs.

Why are so many books written about a man dead 200 years? One reason, I believe, is our thirst for normality, for greatness, for how you do it right in a world too complex, too vicious.

These two books offer roadmaps. Both are good, in very different approaches to the same remarkable man, a great American.

David Hodo is a psychiatrist who practices in Selma.

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Queen Elizabeth's royal battle - Monsters and Critics

Posted: 11 Jan 2010 04:02 AM PST

Britain's Queen Elizabeth has royal authors battling to write the best biography of her life. The 83-year-old monarch will see profiles written by unknown French writer Isabelle Rivere and established US biographer Sally Bedell Smith go on sale around the time of her Diamond Jubilee - which marks 60 years on the throne - in 2012.Both authors are being helped by Buckingham Palace but neither will be granted an interview by the monarch or allowed access to secret documents. Isabelle - who, by her own admission, is little known for her work - said she had been an admirer of the queen since she started reading her grandmother's royalty magazines when she was a child. She told the Daily Telegraph: "My grandmother used to read articles about the queen and Princess Margaret and I became interested in their lives. I have had a long fascination with the queen for many reasons. "I think the queen is one of the greatest figures of her time and I am very much enjoying researching her life. It's very exciting. As an author, I feel very privileged to write such a book."Her book, which does not yet have a title, will be published towards the end of next year by Fayard, the established Paris-based company which specialises in historical biographies.Her rival, Sally is a biographer, historian and journalist, known for her work on the Kennedy family and the controversial book on the late Princess of Wales, 'Diana: In Search Of Herself'. A spokesman for Random House, her publishers said: "We asked Sally to write about Queen Elizabeth II and she responded enthusiastically. The queen is one of the most compelling people on the world stage."

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St. Anastasius X - Catholic Online

Posted: 10 Jan 2010 11:59 PM PST

Feastday: January 11
570

Benedictine abbot, noted by Pope St. Gregory the Great. Anastasius became a monk at Suppentonia in the diocese of Nepi, Italy, serving in time as abbot. Pope St. Gregory the Great recorded that an angel appeared to summon Anastasius and his monks, all of whom died in rapid succession after the visitation.

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Bios take on Grace Kelly, Clint Eastwood - Statesman Journal

Posted: 10 Jan 2010 11:16 PM PST

For anyone who longs for the day when the word superstar actually meant something, two new biographies on Grace Kelly and Clint Eastwood will come as welcome escapes.

Ladies first. Most everyone knows the basics of Grace Kelly's life. An extraordinarily beautiful Philadelphian conquers Hollywood — and more than a few men along the way — only to chuck it all to become a princess by marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

But the fairy tale wasn't all that "happily ever after," and author Donald Spoto in "High Society" gives readers a fascinating account of Kelly's difficult transition from Hollywood royalty to the real deal.

"For a very long time, she felt like a displaced person, not just an expatriate," he writes. It took her 11 years, for instance, to change the custom that no man was permitted to visit her in her private apartments.

There's not all that much new here, but there are worse ways to spend a few hours than with the likes of Grace Kelly, who died in 1982 at 52 in a car crash after suffering a stroke while driving on the French Riviera.

As for Mr. "Make My Day," Eastwood is the rough-and-tumble counterpart to Kelly's gentility: blue collar vs. blue blood.

What you get on the screen with Eastwood is pretty much what you get in real life. The "double helix" of Eastwood's creative and real-life DNA is so intertwined, says author Marc Eliot in "American Rebel," it's impossible to separate the private man from his on-screen persona.

Notoriously private, Eastwood, 79, rarely talks about his movies, let alone his life, so Eliot concedes that the "clues" to who Eastwood is "had to be found elsewhere."

Author of best-selling biographies of Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart, Eliot wisely decided to spend much of the book on Eastwood's most recent 15 years or so, his most fruitful period, many believe, especially as a director.

But yes, the affairs are all here, the seven children by five women, the two marriages. And the one amazing career.

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Biographies

Monday, January 11, 2010