The Life of Abraham Lincoln

So I got the new Lincoln movie (not new as I speak of course, but I recently got it to watch it at home), and before watching it, I decided that I should read his biography first so I'd have a more rich background and understanding of events when I watch the movie.

The book I got as a first result of my search was "The life of Abraham Lincoln by Henry Ketcham" and I know it will take me so long to finish since I don't read it everyday; only when they're gracious enough to leave me the iPad to read :/. The reviews are very positive so far; the writer was coeval with Lincoln and had the privilege of meeting him once as the reviews say; which accounts him as being the most contemporary writer and the most accurate.

From what I read, I really like Lincoln; physically he was a large, tall man which helped him when was young in carrying out a lot of different jobs, but his character and personality are what matter and they really sound so noble and rare to find, especially these days.



He came from a moderate family who didn't have much and who moved from a state to another when he was young. His mother died early because of some disease at the time, but she was of a great impact on his personality as much as his father's. She was of a good nature who taught her husband to read - when schools were something rare and not everyone can easily get an education.

He kind of self educated himself and worked as a lawyer. He was a very honest man. Though he went through some bad financial states, he never thought of taking what's not his, nor even overcharging his clients even when he deserved it and for others' prescriptive he was actually undercharging them. It was to the extent that he refused to take over a client's case till they get paid back half of what the client has already satisfactory paid.

He was a visionary, very kind, patient with others even those who does him wrong, merciful, a father to the common people that they called him Father Abe or Father Abraham. He was the emancipator of the slaves.

The book contains also a lot of testimonials of those who met and worked with Abraham Lincoln with very great words about the great leader he was, that some of those who always wrote against him and were so criticizing of he was doing, felt the revulsion of the their acts when they heard of his assassination; that even his Confederate enemies announced that the South has lost a great friend.

I really liked the book with the exception of it being so detailed in matters of war and others. A lot of political content that I'm not interested in a bit and wasn't fond of the way the writer kind of categorized the story into chapters that I felt was not connected to each other in a smooth way as in telling a story.

Having finished the book, now I'm off to watch the movie :).