L~N COLN LORE Bulletin of the Lincoln National Life Foundation • • - - - • Dr. Loui• A. Warren Editor Published each week by Tho Lincoln National Lite Insurance Company, Fort Wayne, Indiana Number 1125 FORT WAYNE, INDIANA October 30, 1950

ALLAN NEVINS ORIENTS U NCOLN

Nevin., AllAn TM EmerQM'U o/ U"ool"'" Vet 1, Doaelu. 8g.. picas in length those in the Nevins publications are 29 eha.un and Pt.rtT Chao. 1867-1869. Vet 2, Prolosrue to avo Waz, picas long. This factor causes fewer shifts of the eyes 1869.1881. Oharlea Serib~'• Softa, . LoD4oa 1950. Prioe $1UO. in the reading of a thousand words and also alloWII one to considerably cut down the numbAbraham Lincoln must not be disap­ Prize sponsored by the Society of American Historians. pointed In the failure of the author to introduce his The second installment of two volumes has just ap­ peared under the caption Tho EmMgence of Lincoln hero until nearly the end of the first volume. Nor ahoald exhibiting data falling chronologically ~>Grover Cleveland, A Study of here and there to make ready for him. Yet when Lincoln Courage was recognized and in 1937 his Hamilton Fish, comes he is largely overshadowed by Stephen A. Doug­ the Inner Hist01'1J of the Grant Administration reeelved las with the exception of sharing the spotlight in the the applause of the judges. chapter on the famous debates. Procedure in American biography has often followed the custom of lifting an Individual out of his natural The real emergence of Lincoln docs not occur until environment, gathering facts about him independent of midway through the second volume in a chapter entitled important creative elements and then clothing him with "Sunrise in Chicago.'' Here almost out of the darkness garments which are out of character. Allan Nevins is of the night, as the chapter caption might imply, a tri­ not a member of this conventional school and the Inter­ umphant entry into the political life of the nation is pretive title of his book clearly implies that he is going made by Lincoln's nomination for the Presidency. Ris to allow Abraham Lincoln to en>erge from the historical speechless participation in a four-party campaign, his setting of his day. The author has accomplished the laborious task of orientating Lincoln and this approach election as a minority candidate, the secessionists' with­ is easily tho feature of his contribution. drawal and the launching of the ship of state \vith an untrained pilot at the helm, holds fast the attention of Twenty years ago Alb by his predecessors. In a day when pictorial illustrations General, published last year, reaches the climax of his seem to permeate all types of literature he completely thesis at the Battle of Gettysburg; and this latest con­ ignores this method of creating atmosphere. Be relies tribution to the Lincoln theme by Allan Nevins, sees almost entirely upon word pictures in which art he is Lincoln safely Inaugurated on March 4, 1861. There a master and his descriptive paragraphs constitute what might bColumbia University. All three are sons of exceedingly long lines of type. Wb.ile the printed lines the western country; Randall was born in Indiana, on the same size page are not usually more than 25 Williams in Ohio, and Nevins in Illinois.