Abraham Lincoln: A History (Volume 1)

Excellent source for Lincoln buffs. Awesome readers except for 1...

(5 stars)

westek12

- The book: Probably more than any other person other than Lincoln himself, Nicolay & Hay, being Lincoln's personal secretaries during his presidency, had the advantage of witnessing both the private and public sides of Lincoln in great intimacy. This can be seen here in their comprehensive and thorough illustration of Lincoln's life and the circumstances that surrounded him. It illustrates in detail how Lincoln's self-disciplined command of his character & deep intellect related to the dynamics that surrounded him and the country he lived in, from the destitution of his childhood to the tumultuous upheavals of our national shadow (where all our forefathers feared to tread); into the very eye of the tempest that shook history itself. This collection not only illustrates how the fate and Identity of a nation fell into the hands of providence, but also how close it repeatedly came to falling elsewhere. Audiobook critique: 1. 9:07 minutes into Section 18 (zip downloaded 64KBPS MP3 file), as read by MaryAnn, is highjacked by a editing error wherein the voice of Tim Bower abruptly takes over reading a later section related to conflicts in Kansas. However, when section 18 was downloaded separately, the entire section 18 was there without interruption or truncation. Go figure. 2. The voices of the readers are remarkably high in quality given the fact that the volume it's divvied up between 11 different readers with the personal exception of 1. Unfortunately I find the idiosyncrasies of Nathan Dickey's voice (sections 15 & 19) too distracting to concentrate on the narration. I feel terrible about complaining, considering that he donated his time and effort for my benefit, nevertheless I can't help but feel annoyed when common words take on additional syllables (i.e., adderversaries, addahministration, diggahnified etc) or at times suffer the loss of one while under his care. In his singularly-focused effort to come across clearly he is WAY over-pronouncing each and every word by incorporating every available muscle in his mouth and tongue beyond necessity, to the affect of sounding tongue-tied. Especially grating are the laborious open vowel sound (oo & ou) which are further compounded when followed by the dreaded heavy "r". Rather than focus in on the mounting civil tensions of a nation I'm compelled to cringe in anticipation at Dickey's struggle to pronunciate the next word. However, I will say, he does sound rather young & inexperienced compared to the rest. Less effort on pronunciation & more on speaking naturally, as if to a friend & on the flow of a sentence would solve most of the problem. Perhaps he should do more polishing & honest self-reviews before submitting his next reading (I'd start with some 30-grit sandpaper first though). OMG I'm such an ass. Having said that, an annoyance ratio factor of 1:11 is again; very remarkable. Highly recommended for anyone into history.

good

(3.5 stars)

HolmesBoy

This is very good and I found a lot of information I did not know. As a New Englander I grew up with an impression that everyone was just like us during this time period. It was quite refreshing to hear a different point of view from midwesterners. These people had it clearly different view. I look forward to going further in the series. Of course this would’ve benefited with a single rider.

(5 stars)

steveweing

Interesting book. It was written by men who personally knew Lincoln well. It is as much a history on the Civil War and run up to it as it is about Lincoln. It puts everything into much better context. Most of the chapters have different readers. Most are read quiet well.

(0.5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

it would be much better if the chapters were read in their entirety. Also a good idea to actually finish the book. good story and information otherwise.

Abraham Lincoln

(3 stars)

Kyle

Interesting and informative, listening would be aided by consistent narrator. But a great resource!

(4 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Fascinating listen but the experience is let down by not having all volumes on librivox.