Poet paints lyrical Lincoln portrait

Do you remember when you were little and you cherished that time with a favorite bedtime story, not only because of the tale, but also because of the time alone with the loved one who told it?

Do you ever have that feeling still? You cherish every page of a book you’re reading and you don’t want it to end – either because of the story, the characters, or the way the author paints word pictures upon each page and draws you in.

I had that feeling recently.

Before Lincoln’s 200th birthday in February, I began a book, The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage, by Daniel Mark Epstein. I was moved by Epstein’s lyrical style and reminded almost immediately of the work of an earlier Lincoln biographer, Carl Sandburg.

Written as only a poet can
Like Sandburg (who, by the way, is from my hometown), Epstein is a poet. Believe me, this poet’s ability to weave words, craft colorful character cameos and draw dramatic dioramas places his presidential portrait on a plane with few others.

Because of this, on one hand, I didn’t want to put the book down from the first day I opened it; yet, on the other, I never wanted to have to stop reading it. Due to other demands on my time, I was lucky to have Epstein’s words with me for a very long time.

Portrait became not my bedtime story, but my lunch time treat. On weekdays when I didn’t have other plans or commitments, I’d go to my van, push the seat back from the steering wheel and spend my lunch hour with the Lincolns, viewing them through Epstein’s eyepiece. I looked forward to the time alone – with the President, Mrs. Lincoln, Epstein and his cast of characters.

I finished the tome today, and I hope what I have to share will inspire you to take a look at this tale, too.

Why this book stands alone
The story Epstein tells is the same one we’ve heard time and again. Lincoln meets Mary, dumps Mary, marries Mary. They have two sons, one dies. They have two more, another dies – this time in the White House. Lincoln the lawyer becomes Lincoln the legislator, then Lincoln the President. They move to the White House, where Mary overspends on her wardrobe and “flub dubs for that damned old house,” while Union soldiers do without the essentials they need. The South surrenders and days later John Wilkes Booth snuffs out the light of the Great Emancipator.

Same old story, right? Why would it be different this time than the many other times we’ve read it? I like to think one reason is because, with a poet’s insight and sensitivity, Epstein shows us a different Abraham and Mary.

He shows us Abraham as a father who has a love for his country and compassion for its people as powerful as for his tag-a-log buddy, Tad. Epstein also shows us the Mary others fail to, a woman who loved her husband, loved her children and suffered in ways few can understand – and he does it with a caring and compassion unparalleled in other works.

Many historians have taken Mary for face value – focusing on all the obvious faults manifested through her mental state and the difficulty it caused in her relationships. Others have painted her a victim, nearly glorifying her. Yet with Epstein, it’s almost as if he’s on the inside looking out, feeling her pain, sensing her rage and understanding her love. I like to think the portrait he paints is more balanced, homing in on the good, but not dusting away the bad as if it never happened.

He shows us a marriage that endured – through it all, until death came between them. Appropriately enough, Epstein’s story stops there.

A taste of the poet’s imagery
Throughout the book, Epstein’s words worked together to pull me in and keep me coming back, but I have to share just a couple of my favorite lines to give you a taste, too.

You may be familiar with James Shields, the man Lincoln was set to duel in the early days of his relationship with Mary. Epstein’s introduction of Shields in the book will always be one of my favorite passages.

James Shields was a short man, with a square jaw, jutting chin, and deep-set eyes under a broad brow. Nevertheless, he got one’s attention when he walked into a room, limping slightly, pressing on as if against a headwind on the deck of a ship.

The passage above is just the beginning of Epstein’s colorful description of the Irishman who came by seafaring vessel from Belfast as a youngster. You’ll find the continued imagery which makes this my favorite when you turn to page 37 in the book.

Epstein’s work will endure
In this volume, just like in those familiar bedtime stories, I knew the characters, I was touched by the beginning, and the ending was as sad this time as it was the first time I heard it.

Yet, Epstein’s portrait of the Lincoln marriage is crafted so that it sheds light on those corners of the image where the sun rarely reaches. You know how Thomas Kinkade can make a painting look as if the light is glowing right through the canvas? Epstein gets this effect with his words. In so doing, we see the marriage, the President and Mrs. Lincoln as never before.

The Lincolns’ marriage may have been cut short on that fateful day in 1865, but Epstein’s panorama of it will bond to the walls of his readers’ memory long after the last page is turned, allowing the legacy to live on.

As for me, I’m thinking it may be a very long time before another luncheon dessert satisfies me like this one.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Thank you, Governor Quinn

Lincoln buffs and others who are passionate about keeping the history of Illinois alive join together in a big round of applause for Illinois governor Pat Quinn, who has reopened our historic sites, closed by our last governor in what seemed to be a short-sited attempt to ease a budget crunch. Never mind that it was the Lincoln Bicentennial year. That other guy just didn't care!

This Lincoln buff is thrilled about all the site reopenings, but particularly excited about the opportunity for people to again see the birthplace of my favorite Illinois bard, Carl Sandburg. I was born a mile or less from the home, my uncles have owned a grocery store just down the block for more than 50 years and I write for a living today as a direct result of attending a Sandburg Days writers workshop in the late 90s. Oh, and did I mention I won the Sandburg Days trivia contest two years in a row?

You can read all about the site reopening in the Galesburg Register-Mail, not hailed as Lincoln's Friend like its sister paper, The State Journal-Register, but a pretty fine publication, nonetheless.

Birthplace website and Sandburg Days
Be sure to visit the Carl Sandburg Historic Site website to learn about the place where the prairie poet breathed his first breath and where his ashes rest. (As of this writing, the website has not been updated, though, with news of the reopening.)

And, if you're looking for something to do this weekend, head to the Burg for Sandburg Days. I'll be there, excited that my mentor and friend, John E. Hallwas, will again offer his writers workshop. He'll also give a presentation about his latest book, Dime Novel Desperadoes, at my favorite book haven, the Galesburg Public Library. And those are just some of the events!

You oughta join us.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Wish I'd met this man

This seems to be the day for my favorite journalists to write about my favorite subjects. John Pulliam of the Galesburg Register-Mail penned a tribute today to Cyrus Highlander, a Galesburg (Ill.) High School graduate who spent the later part of his life in the same part of North Carolina where Carl Sandburg settled - the area where he completed his six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln.

Highlander, who suggested Flat Rock, N.C. and Galesburg be sister cities, died April 4, 2009 in North Carolina at 82.

Pulliam has written a beautiful piece about Highlander, so I won't spoil it by writing about the same things he's shared. You'll want to read it youself.

I will tell you, though, that if you're a Lincoln buff, you need to step into Sandburg's world, too. Only after you've heard the rhythms of the trains behind his Galesburg birthplace and experienced the tranquility at his later home, Connemara, in the mountains of North Carolina, can you understand the forces which created the rhythm and the lyrical quality in his work.

As you traverse the tree-lined streets he walked and pass the same plaque he passed, the one at Knox College's Old Main commemorating the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate, you'll begin to feel Sandburg's sense of place.

As you stand in the book-filled rooms at Connemara, see Sandburg's green visor and old manual typewriter, and stand on the rocky ledge with its breathtaking view where he went to be alone and write, you'll begin to feel what it must have been like to weave those thousands of words together in tribute to the railsplitter president.

It seems Highlander felt these things, also, and believed these two Sandburg communities needed to build upon that connection. I encourage you to visit both, too. You'll know what I mean.

Here in Illinois, we're optimistic our redeemer governor, Pat Quinn, will save the historic sites from the fate - closure - which our previous chief executive bestowed upon them. Maybe before long, you can once again visit the Carl Sandburg Historic Site.

In North Carolina, plan to spend several hours at Connemara. Go through the home, which is still much as the Sandburgs left it, and be sure to wear comfortable shoes so you can hike the same trails Sandburg hiked.

Unfortunately, Pulliam's tribute was the first time I remember hearing of Highlander. I'm sorry about that. I think we would have had a lot to talk about.

Who knows? Maybe he and Sandburg are already sharing stories about their old Illinois and North Carolina stomping grounds - or better yet, maybe they're listening to Lincoln spin yet another of his yarns.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Absence makes the heart grow stronger – or does it?

Hold on now. Don’t let your mind wander. This isn’t about my personal relationship - or even about my trip to Springfield – not really. It’s about my blog and my relationship with it – or lack of - these past couple days.

Way off track
I have so much to tell you about Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday of Bicentennial week, and I had every intention of doing so today … but I got sidetracked. Not just a little bit sidetracked, but totally derailed. Now, for those of you who don’t know, I lived more than 30 years in Galesburg (Ill.), where you can’t drive across town without crossing at least two separate railroads, where Carl Sandburg listened to the rhythms of the trains, where a huge railroad yard sits below a hump-backed bridge. I know what a derailment is, and how massive the equipment looks which is brought in to get the train back on the track. Could someone please call for the equipment?

My problem started just about where the last blog post ended – a coincidence which must have some sort of symbolic meeting. One of my Lincoln friends is quite into technology and very adept at social media. As we stopped to visit for a few minutes after the Abraham Lincoln Association Roundtable and before the Bicentennial Luncheon with Michael Burlingame, we talked for a bit about online communication vehicles.

Four-letter words
I mentioned to my friend that I’d hoped to twitter, but ran into some technical challenges when trying to do it from my phone. I think we talked a little about LinkedIn and about blogging, and then I heard that compound word I’d been avoiding. Perhaps it’s no small coincidence that it’s created by combining two four-letter words. Have you guessed it? Facebook.

I told my LinkedIn Lincoln friend that I’d been avoiding Facebook. He said, “You need to be on it.” I knew that. Lincoln Buff 2 is not just a blog, but it’s also a brand – an online presence, as it were. It’s my way of showing people I care about Lincoln, and I want to help them do the same. The title means just that. It's designed to say, “You’re a Lincoln buff. I am, too (2).”

Facebook is one more way to get the word out. Yes, it is marketing my product – an unending enthusiasm for the legacy of the 16th president.

My blogging takes a tremendous amount of time, but I think it has value. I’m telling people about things they may not know in the Lincoln world, I’m creating enthusiasm for Lincoln and creating awareness about the bicentennial of his birth. There are only so many hours in a day, and I’ve just about maxed out the 24-hour credit card lately.

A broken record
Today was my first day post-Springfield. I had every intention of spending it catching up on the blog. But, I kept hearing my buddy’s words. “You need to be on it.” The echo started, “You need to be on it.” Again, “You need to be on it.” By then, the resistance had worn down…

So now, I’m on it.

The problem, though, is that so are scores of other people I’ve known and loved throughout my life – old college friends, former coworkers, extended family and yes, even Lincoln scholars. So, as evening settles in, my blog is still not caught up.

It’s all relative
But … I’m beginning to catch up with the Jens and the Kates and the Toms of my past – young parents whom I first knew as teens entering the workforce, now parents not a whole lot younger than I was when I first met them. Yes, I came up short on my blogging goal for the day, but I came a little closer to the words of a song I first heard as a Junior Girl Scout at day camp on the shores of a man-made lake:

Make new friends,
But keep the old,
One is silver
And the other’s gold.

Through no small coincidence, one of my Facebook friends is the Senior Girl Scout who taught me those cherished words.

An unproductive day? I’d rather think productivity is relative. More on Springfield soon.

And don’t worry, my dear blog, I haven’t dumped you.

Blog topics you may have missed through Dec. 19

The last few weeks have been busy in the Lincoln world, so there's been lots to write about. If you’ve missed some posts since my last "topics you may have missed" piece on Nov. 18, 2008, here’s a hyperlinked list of what we covered. If this is helpful, please check one of the Reaction checkboxes at the end of this article.

In the past few weeks, you might have missed articles:

• Reflecting on the Gettysburg Address
• Highlighting an documentary project about Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg
• Celebrating Fords Theatre renovations
• Honoring Helga Sandburg
• Discussing the difficulty of accurately grading a president
• Remembering Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation
• Lamenting the closing of historic sites (Nov. 29 and 30 stories)
• Celebrating Chris Vallillo’s Abraham Lincoln in Song
• Promoting ongoing C-SPAN Lincoln programming
• Touting the benefits of the Heartland College Lincoln class
• Celebrating the dedication of Looking for Lincoln markers
• Describing Lincoln-related events in Bloomington and Springfield, what I learned from the Heartland College Lincoln class and my next steps in the study of Lincoln
• Commemorating Mary Todd Lincoln’s 190th birthday
• Discussing C-SPAN’s White House programming, Michael Burlingame’s new book, Fort Wayne’s Lincoln Museum collection and possible hope for Illinois historic sites
• Honoring retirements of Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank J. Williams and U.S. Representative Ray LaHood
• Talking about birthday cards for Lincoln, a gift to try to keep the Vandalia Statehouse open, renovation of a McLean County home with Lincoln connections and the C-SPAN White House series
• Looking at the horrific institution of slavery
• Pointing gift givers to Lincoln books for young and old
• Celebrating our incoming Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood

For earlier articles
For articles between the birth of this blog on Oct. 9, 2008 and Nov. 18, see the Nov. 19 article.

The opportunity of a century
Remember, this time of bicentennial celebration will never be equaled by any in our lifetimes for opportunities to celebrate and learn about Lincoln. You can find a couple of great calendars of bicentennial happenings across the country at these websites:

• Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
• Abraham Lincoln Online

Mrs. Lincoln turns 190

Lots of hoopla is planned for the upcoming 200th birthday of the most celebrated President in American history, Abraham Lincoln. But, while we’ve been busy planning a party for Abe, his missus is about to have a birthday of her own. Mary Todd Lincoln turns 190 on Saturday, Dec. 13. Please join me in saying “Happy Birthday, Mrs. Lincoln.”

If you’re in Lexington on Saturday
If you’re going to be in Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday, you can join in the celebration at the Mary Todd Lincoln House. See their website for more information.

A shelf full of Mary Lincoln books
If you can’t make it to her party, you can read about Mrs. Lincoln. A number of scholars through the years have written about her - from Ruth Painter Randall and Carl Sandburg’s early works to the eye-opening work of Jason Emerson and James S. Brust. In January, you’ll be able to get yet another view of Mrs. Lincoln’s life when Catherine Clinton’s new book comes out.

In between, a number of other brilliant Lincoln scholars have written about the First Lady and shared their perspectives on her through scholarly articles, symposium presentations and documentary films.

To learn more, check out some of these Mary Lincoln books:

• Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography by Jean H. Baker


• House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, A Family Divided by War by Stephen Berry


• Mrs. Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton


• Loving Mr. Lincoln: The Personal Diaries of Mary Todd Lincoln by M. Kay DuPont


• The Madness of Mary Lincoln by Jason Emerson and James S. Brust


• The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage by Daniel Mark Epstein


• Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner


• Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters by Mary Todd Lincoln, Justin Turner and Linda Levitt Turner


• The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln by Mark E. Neely and R. Gerald McMurty


• Mary Lincoln; Biography of a Marriage by Ruth Painter Randall


• Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow by Carl Sandburg

Please join me in using the Lincoln Bicentennial as an opportunity to learn about our 16th President, his family and his legacy. There’s no better time than now.

Looking forward – Peering back

This past week was a busy one for the Lincoln buff, with Lincoln activities five out of seven days. Let’s take a peek back at the culmination of my Heartland College Lincoln class and at other Lincoln events I attended in Central Illinois. Let’s also look forward to what the Lincoln buff has planned now that my course is completed.

Never too much Lincoln
I began a whirlwind week on Tuesday, Dec. 2, as one of nine students giving oral presentations of our term papers. To learn more about the class, the students and the paper topics, see my article, Lasting Mark Left by Lincoln Class.

Wednesday of last week found me joining hundreds of other Central Illinoisans fighting freezing rain on I-55 as I travelled to Springfield to a Public Relations Society of America meeting where Julie Cellini of the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission told us what the commission has done to prepare for the bicentennial, what they’ve accomplished to date and what we have to look forward to. I’ll tell you more in a future article. It’s exciting.

The Lincoln world was well represented at that meeting, with people there from the Bicentennial Commission, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. All have great accomplishments behind them and a great task before them in preparing for Lincoln’s 200th birthday. It should be a celebration to remember.

On Thursday, I was accompanied by my young granddaughter to the volunteer and foundation member reception at the David Davis Mansion. What little girl – or big – wouldn’t be excited about seeing a beautiful 19th century showplace dressed up in all its holiday finery – right down to a teddy bears’ tea party? Watch future posts for more information about this architectural and historic treasure in Bloomington (Ill.), which has strong connections to the Lincoln legacy.

On the two days I didn’t have Lincoln events, I was preparing for one. I spent Saturday and Sunday studying for my final exam. Lest I give the questions away to future students of this class, I won’t give you the topics. Let it suffice to say one involved something which touched Lincoln’s entire life – a heavy, but important topic. I absorbed it, though, and made it through my Monday night final, melancholy that this once-a-week intellectual fix was coming to an end.

During my lunch time on Tuesday, I attended the dedication for the first of a number of Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits in the Bloomington-Normal area. The Bloomington exhibits are just a handful of the more than 200 which will grace sites with connections to Lincoln from one end of the Prairie State to the other by the end of 2009. I’ll tell you more about this ceremony, the wayside exhibits and the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition in future articles.

What’s on the horizon?
Although the class is finished, the Lincoln buff is just beginning. In 2009 and beyond, my schedule is ambitious. My first order of business is to complete an industry designation I’ve started for my real job. I’ll begin study this week and continue it through and beyond Lincoln’s February 12 birthday. So, if there are times when you don’t see a post for a day or two, don’t give up on me. Just realize I may have had to take time to study.

As for Lincoln, I won’t let him down. I plan to continue the blog and, to work toward my goal of growing my knowledge – and yours - of the life and legacy of Lincoln, I’ll be spending much of my vacation time attending Lincoln celebrations and scholarly events, including:

• Bicentennial activities and scholarly events in Springfield in February
• The Illinois State Historical Society and Illinois College’s symposium, “Lincoln in Ante-Bellum Illinois” in March
• The Lincoln Forum symposium at Gettysburg in November

In the coming years, I also plan to:

• refine and expand my paper on Lincoln and his mentors,
• continue my work on Lincoln and Sandburg and on Lincoln in Illinois literature, and
• begin an in-depth study of David Davis and his relationship with Lincoln.

The blog lives on
My original intent was to keep the blog active through 2010 to extend more than a year past the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. However, a very wise Illinois historian recently reminded me the interest in Lincoln will surely intensify and continue as the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War begins in 2011 and extends through 2015. Though that commemoration will likely be somber rather than celebratory like the Lincoln Bicentennial, it will serve as a time to continue to teach and to learn. God willing, I’ll be here and so will the technology so that this forum can continue to share what’s happening, what’s new in Lincoln scholarship and what I’ve learned. I’ll try not to let you down.

Tribute to a faithful toiler

“I have always felt that a woman has the right to treat the subject of her age with ambiguity until, perhaps, she passes into the realm of over ninety. Then it is better she be candid with herself and with the world.” Carl Sandburg

On Nov. 24, 1918 as Americans fought in the War to End All Wars, the not-yet-Lincoln-biographer Carl Sandburg was away from home as a war correspondent. That Sunday at 6 a.m., his wife, Lillian, whom he called Paula, gave birth to a baby girl, rather than the boy the couple had expected. When Paula wrote to her husband, she described a little girl “as colorful and clamorous as you could wish,” according to the account in Penelope Niven’s Carl Sandburg: A Biography.

That colorful, clamorous daughter, Helga, a brilliant writer herself, will celebrate her ninetieth birthday tomorrow and she has earned the right to be as ambiguous or as candid about her age as she wishes.

So why am I writing about Helga Sandburg in my Lincoln blog? I could give you a top ten, with reasons such as “I admire her.” “She inspires me.” “She’s spunky.” Those would all be right, and I’d have no trouble finding many more. The most significant, however, is that I think Lincoln buffs and Lincoln scholars alike can learn from Helga.

What Helga can teach us

“Learn what?” you ask. There are several things.

One of my friends who is a Lincoln scholar is a PK – Preacher’s Kid. There are certain things all preachers’ kids have in common – a bond of sorts, things they’ve lived through. I wonder, as I meet Lincoln scholars and read their work, if there isn’t also a bond for LK – Lincoln Kids – sons and daughters of Lincoln scholars. The bond is in things such as listening to Mom or Dad talk about Lincoln for hours with more passion in their eyes than at almost any other time – or watching as the piles of books and papers grow deeper and deeper in the library – or wondering when the parent will ever pull away from the computer – or having to plan vacations around visits to Lincoln sites, libraries or archives.

In “…Where Love Begins,” Helga’s autobiographical account of the Sandburg family, Lincoln scholars and their families can see how, even more than eighty years after his first Lincoln volume was published, there are still some constants in what it’s like to be a Lincoln scholar or an LK.

This book, one of more than a dozen by this soon-to-be nonagenarian, keeps readers engaged anyway, because Helga’s a fun writer and it’s a great read. But for those of us with an interest in Lincoln, she paints a familiar picture of both the beginning and the end of the creative process. "I am four. A flame has lighted my father. The household feels it,” Helga wrote. The time was the summer of 1923 and the flame, of course, was Lincoln.

She also shares her Uncle Edward Steichen’s account of Carl’s visit after the final review of proofs of Abraham Lincoln: The War Years. Her uncle, the gifted photographer, saw the Lincoln biographer as if through a camera lens, and captured a peace writers have only as one project ends and another is not yet begun:

“My uncle says, ‘Carl sat at the breakfast table that morning with a serene and relaxed look, a look that brought to mind Gardner’s beautiful photographs the day after the Civil war surrender. This is the only picture of Lincoln in existence which shows a real smile, a tired smile of relief, a smile of infinite warmth and tenderness.’”

Read all about it

Have you wondered what it was like for Sandburg to be obsessed with Lincoln for so long, or what it was like to live in the presence of one so obsessed? Do you wonder how Sandburg’s creative and research process was different from your own – or the same? Did you know Helga and her sisters were often “faithful toilers” working in many ways behind the scenes to contribute to his life’s work?

If so, you must read Helga’s book. And, if you’re so inclined, it might be a really nice time to stop and say, “Thanks, Helga. Have a great birthday!” I’ll be glad to send her any birthday wishes you leave in the comments at the end of this blog.

Happy birthday, Helga!

Helga, thanks for writing about your father, telling your own stories and, especially, for your own voice, formed in the echoes of the prairie-town boy and the rhythms of the trains near his boyhood home. You're the youngest 90-year-old I've ever known. Have a wonderful day.

Film plans to capture why Sandburg still matters

As I began my studies this morning, I intended to blog on Penelope (Penny) Niven’s Carl Sandburg: A Biography. You’ll hear the reason I was heading down that path another day. You will also have to wait to hear about Penny’s Carl and why the book is of value in the study of Lincoln.

You see, as I was surfing the Internet searching for a particularly moving quote Penny had once shared, I tripped over the most amazing blog. I just have to share it with you.

I learned today that an Asheville, North Carolina filmmaker, Paul Bonesteel, who as a child took a poety class on the lawn at Sandburg’s home, Connemara, is committed to doing a documentary about Sandburg. He talks about this painfully long, yet extremely rewarding project in his blog, The Day Carl Sandburg Died.

Sandburg matters – does his Lincoln?
Bonesteel has been at work on this project for a number of years, doing interviews, gathering funding, pulling things together in a meaningful way. As his project moved forward, his focus changed somewhat and his current working title was born. It became alarming to him as he began digging into the Sandburg legacy to learn that Sandburg’s voice in American culture seemed to be dying off. Some of Sandburg’s poems are even losing their places in our schools and in the anthologies our students use.

The mission then became more to delve into why Sandburg does matter. And the time was right when Bonesteel began his project. He captured visits with some pretty impressive people – Studs Terkel, Norman Corwin, Pete Seeger – which makes this even more significant. Timing was crucial. A few years later and he couldn’t have done this project with the breadth and depth with which he could now. Terkel died last month at age 96, Corwin is 98 and Seeger is 89. Two of Sandburg’s three daughters are no longer living. The people who can really tell us about Sandburg are slowly leaving to join him in that place where creative types go to continue the work they started here.

I understand many Lincoln scholars have problems with Sandburg and his work. Today’s post isn’t a place to debate that. Some other time we’ll talk about whether Sandburg’s Lincoln still matters. I think there are reasons it does, and I’ll show you my perspective on that in a future blog post.

For now, if you’re interested in Bonesteel’s work, please visit his blog. Ill try to follow up on its release and let you know when it’s released on TV.

I’m sure glad I stubbed my toe on Bonesteel today, I can’t wait to see his film and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Watch for more on Penny, Helga and Carl in future blogs.

Be like Lincoln - Read

If you were asked to name a characteristic of Abraham Lincoln's, what would it be? His honesty is always up there at the top, but so is his love of the written word. I can't ever remember a time when "Lincoln" wasn't synonymous with "voracious reader" in my mind.

There are more books written about Lincoln than anyone except Jesus Christ. I've provided a list of books you can read to learn more about our sixteenth president. The list now links directly to a source where you can order each one.

U of I Press keeps history alive
A number of books about Lincoln are published by the University of Illinois Press, a publishing house with a passion much like my own - keeping regional history alive. Therefore, whenever possible I'll link directly to the U of I Press website. For books published elsewhere, I'll normally take you to a major bookseller's website.

My blog booklist
You won't find the same books listed each time you visit my blog. The list is constantly evolving. I plan to feature books by authors or on subjects which relate most closely to my recent posts.

The book I'm currently reading will always be at the top. For now, that's David Herbert Donald's Lincoln. We're using it as the text in the Lincoln course I'm taking at Heartland College in Bloomington, Ill. Get used to seeing that one listed through early December.

Now featuring Davis and Wilson
For the next few days, the list will also feature books by Rodney O. Davis and Douglas L. Wilson of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. Their names and faces have been familiar to me for almost as long as Lincoln's. Drs. Davis and Wilson are my hometown heroes, as much as Ronald Reagan, Carl Sandburg, Mother Bickerdyke or Superman himself (George Reeves). And they stepped up the hero ladder even more this past weekend when they did a magnificent job hosting the Twenty-Third Annual Lincoln Colloquium. Read my Oct. 11 post to learn more about this great event.

As I transition to a hyperlinked book list, you'll find two lists for a while. May you find something listed here you've not yet read, and in reading, may you discover another morsel or two of Lincoln knowledge you haven't yet discovered. Happy reading!

© Copyright 2008 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.