With Malice Toward None

A Biography of Abraham Lincoln

By: Stephen B. Oates

Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith

“The standard one-volume biography of Lincoln.” —Washington Post

“Certainly the most objective biography of Lincoln ever written.” —David Herbert Donald, New York Times Book Review

The definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates's acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America's greatest leader. In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the shadow of myth as a recognizable, fully drawn American whose remarkable life continues to inspire and inform us today.

Oates masterfully charts, with the pacing of a novel, Lincoln's rise from bitter poverty in America's midwestern frontier to become a self-made success in business, law, and regional politics. The second half of this riveting work examines his legendary leadership on the national stage as president during one of the country's most tumultuous and bloody periods, the Civil War years, which concluded tragically with Lincoln's assassination.

Great President, Great Narrator

This narrator had me on the edge of my seat! He gets excited, so the listener does as well. I will watch for him in future. This listen makes it all so real. And, yes, it was terribly sad.

Great Biography

Being a history nut. I love to learn more of the background of events. This was very well done and worth the time to listen

Great book about a great man

This is one originally published in 1977, but it was new to me and probably the best I’ve listened to this year. It’s a biography of Lincoln that focuses on slavery and the Civil War. Lincoln hated slavery from youth. But his stance on how to end it evolved over time. Lincoln was convinced that if confined to the South that slavery would die out on its own over time. It was this stance that did bring about the Civil War. Lincoln and his political allies were very much against slavery expanding into the new territories. It was the dispute over slavery in the territories that lead to southern states leaving the Union and ironically would eventually lead to a total ban on slavery. However, Lincoln’s biggest concern was the preservation of the Union and for this reason he only transitioned to an immediate ban on slavery when he felt doing so would help in preserving the Union.

At the start of the book the author makes a comment that I totally agree with: historical figures should be judged by the standards of the times that they lived in. Meaning, were Lincoln’s views on race Liberal for the time? Absolutely. Were his views Liberal by today’s standards? No. By today’s standards he’d be judged a racist. But, he took very unpopular stances at the time that lead to the abolition of slavery. He also took actions that preserved the Union. He was the perfect President for the times and one of, if not the best President we’ve ever had.

I really enjoyed the book. I learned so much about the Civil War in this one. Plus, the reader was absolutely perfect for the subject matter.

Outstanding

Well, researched biography on the life of Abraham Lincoln. The audio was of equal quality.

Awesome story of our greatest president

This is probably one of my favorite books. Yes, it is long, but well worth it. It is about the trials and tribulations of one of our greatest presidents who endured some of the most darkest times in American history, yet he found a way to preserve flawed man and all. He allowed himself to grow and learn to the point of changing his opinions, as he realized that some of the things he believed were inaccurate and required him to evolve as new information came to him. The truest sign of wisdom is acceptance that you don’t know everything and your opinions can be changed as you learn.