Lincoln S Mentors

A brilliant and novel examination of how Abraham Lincoln mastered the art of leadership “Abraham Lincoln had less schooling than all but a couple of other presidents, and more wisdom than every one of them. In this original, insightful book, Michael Gerhardt explains how this came to be." –H.W. Brands, Wall Street Journal In 1849, when Abraham Lincoln returned to Springfield, Illinois, after two seemingly uninspiring years in the U.S. House of Representatives, his political career appeared all but finished. His sense of failure was so great that friends worried about his sanity. Yet within a decade, Lincoln would reenter politics, become a leader of the Republican Party, win the 1860 presidential election, and keep America together during its most perilous period. What accounted for the turnaround? As Michael J. Gerhardt reveals, Lincoln’s reemergence followed the same path he had taken before, in which he read voraciously and learned from the successes, failures, oratory, and political maneuvering of a surprisingly diverse handful of men, some of whom he had never met but others of whom he knew intimately—Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, John Todd Stuart, and Orville Browning. From their experiences and his own, Lincoln learned valuable lessons on leadership, mastering party politics, campaigning, conventions, understanding and using executive power, managing a cabinet, speechwriting and oratory, and—what would become his most enduring legacy—developing policies and rhetoric to match a constitutional vision that spoke to the monumental challenges of his time. Without these mentors, Abraham Lincoln would likely have remained a small-town lawyer—and without Lincoln, the United States as we know it may not have survived. This book tells the unique story of how Lincoln emerged from obscurity and learned how to lead.

More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than perhaps any other figure in Western civilization, save Jesus of Nazareth, and with so much material available on Lincoln, it can be difficult to sift through all the biographies and recollections to get at the essence of one of the great Americans of all time. In this book—both history and biography, informative as well as entertaining, meant to be read in whole or in bite-sized chunks—historian Thomas Flagel distills the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln in twenty-five annotated lists. Flagel’s lists present a cross-section of Lincoln’s life, career, and presidency: —Homes and jobs —Mentors, friends, and allies —Books and readings —Legal cases —Acts as an Illinois state representative and U.S. congressman —Best and worst days as president —Favorite sanctuaries in Washington, DC —Monuments, memorials, and historic sites —Greatest speeches and addresses —And more For uninitiated readers, these lists offer a quick but informative (and informed) entrée into Abraham Lincoln. For buffs and historians, the lists will be the starting point for debates and arguments. For everyone, Flagel’s annotated lists present an opportunity for readers to draw their own conclusions about Lincoln, based on the facts of his life. In these twenty-five lists, Flagel offers a unique lens through which to view our sixteenth president.

A unique and illuminating exploration of the key relationships that shaped Franklin Delano Roosevelt into one of America’s most definitive leaders and impacted his influence on the world stage, from presidential historian Michael J. Gerhardt, the acclaimed author of Lincoln’s Mentors and principal adviser in the official annotation of the Constitution at the Library of Congress. Franklin Delano Roosevelt wasn’t a born leader. He became one. As a boy he was in poor health, was insecure, and an average student at best. Growing into manhood, the lessons he learned came not from books but from influencers of his lifetime, beginning with Endicott Peabody, the most renowned US headmaster of the twentieth century. He instilled in Roosevelt a confidence and strength that empowered the young student and propelled him to greatness as one of the most revered presidents of the United States. For Roosevelt, Peabody was only one of a small number of people who helped him develop the skills and temperament that enabled him to overcome the devastating effects of polio, to lead the nation through two crises, and to secure America’s leadership in the world. In FDR’s Mentors, Michael Gerhardt tells the extraordinary stories of the men and women who had a vital impact on Roosevelt’s life, career, and pragmatic personality: his distant cousin Teddy; his wife Eleanor; President Woodrow Wilson; journalist Lewis Howe; Winston Churchill; and New York Democratic Party leader Al Smith. Form the creation of the New Deal through Roosevelt’s war with the Supreme Court to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt persevered with never-ending grit, grace, limitless optimistism, and patience. It is thanks to the invaluable personal connections, inspiration, and wisdom of those who shaped and informed FDR’s historic presidency—one that has become a model of resilience and, in turn, an influence on every president who has followed in his path.

The methods of attaining great heights are frequently discussed, with many postulations propounded by pundits and individuals of phenomenal accomplishments, yet reaching the pinnacle of such heights remains ever so elusive to the masses; hence, only a select few are able to make these extraordinary strides. In Drive to Passion, Ted Obomanu chronicles the lives of a few highly accomplished individuals: Harland Sanders, a perfectionist, who was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC); Winston Churchill, the vivacious and popular prime minister of Britain, who led his country to victory during the Second World War; Joseph Kennedy, patriarch of the Kennedy clan, business mogul, and kingmaker; Sidney Poitier, acclaimed actor and the first African-American movie star to receive an Oscar in a leading role; Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents of the United States, responsible for the abolition of slavery; Suze Orman, financial guru and popular TV host who epitomizes passion; Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, who accomplished this unprecedented feat despite its improbability; Oprah Winfrey, owner of a TV network, one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, and was the host and producer of one of the most popular TV shows ever. Obomanu does this to explore firsthand how these individuals were able to reach the summit of their vocations. He also turns the chronicling of these great individuals lives into an intriguing narrative, without compromising the lessons. Obomanu makes significant findings in this book: Passion more than anything else is responsible for success and greatness, which is self-evident in the lives of the great individuals he chronicles; to attain distinction, the quest for passion should always be centered around a niche; passion is fueled by drive, and a shift in focus from passion to the rewards of accomplishments, such as wealth, may potentially derail the attainment of success and greatness; mentors play a huge role in the accomplishment of our goals. At the conclusion of this great reading, Obomanu delves into how spirituality and personal development can greatly enhance the quest for passion and how the pursuit of passion can trigger happiness and longevity. He sums up by asserting that the aspiration of success and greatness should be driven by all the components of passion to ensure its sustainability and potential value to society.

Originally published: New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Jon Meacham chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln, charting how—and why—he confronted secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery to expand the possibilities of America. “Meacham has given us the Lincoln for our time.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize • Longlisted for the Biographers International Plutarch Award • One of the Best Books of the Year: The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews A president who governed a divided country has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents—a remote icon—or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln—an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in an antislavery Baptist community; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him to see the right. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination in 1865: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end. In a nation shaped by the courage of the enslaved of the era and by the brave witness of Black Americans, Lincoln’s story illustrates the ways and means of politics in a democracy, the roots and durability of racism, and the capacity of conscience to shape events.

What is the oldest artifact linked to Abraham Lincoln? What does a poem written when he was just a schoolboy say about his character? Taking its cue from The History of the World in 100 Objects, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum have selected 100 items from their extensive and rare collection that will give readers an intimate glimpse into the turning points of Lincoln’s life and presidency. From a page taken from his sum book, to the gloves Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated, these objects reveal a sense of the man and his times in a fresh and immediate way. Handsomely designed, with more than 125 photographs visually complimenting the text, Under Lincoln’s Hat will be a gorgeous reading book and a great gift for anyone interested in one of the most iconic figures in American history.

Acclaimed by Einstein himself, this is among the clearest, most readable expositions of relativity theory. It explains the problems Einstein faced, the experiments that led to his theories, and what his findings reveal about the forces that govern the universe. 1957 edition.