David Donald – författare

Occasionally a book that begins as a work of scholarship becomes a great and profoundly moving human document. This life of Lincoln's friend, law partner and biographer is such a book. It has a two-fold focus: on the "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" days,the days of Lincoln's courting, arguing, and politicking and on Herndon's long and wracking fight to publish his biography in the face of poverty, drive, and disillusionment, it achieves the impetus and grandeur of tragedy. David Donald has given us a magnificent account of how a country lawyer became a national figure and what happened to the friend he left behind when he became president. An impressive study of mythmakers and mythmaking, this biography of William Henry Herndon, a man intimately connected to movements for abolition of slavery, temperance, religious liberalism, currency reform, and women's rights is also a sweeping picture of America just before, during, and after the Civil War.

The Puliter-Prize winning classic and national bestseller returns!In this brilliant biography—a Pulitzer Prize—winning national bestseller—David Herbert Donald, Harvard professor emeritus, traces Sumner''s life as the nation careens toward civil war. In a period when senators often exercised more influence than presidents, Senator Charles Sumner was one of the most powerful forces in the American government and remains one of the most controversial figures in American history. His uncompromising moral standards made him a lightning rod in an era fraught with conflict.Sumner''s fight to end slavery made him a hero in the North and stirred outrage in the South. In what has been called the first blow of the Civil War, he was physically attacked by a colleague on the Senate floor. Unwavering and arrogant, Sumner refused to abandon the moral high ground, even if doing so meant the onslaught of the nation''s most destructive war. He used his office and influence to transform the United States during the most contentious and violent period in the nation''s history.Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War presents a remarkably different view of our bloodiest war through an insightful reevaluation of the man who stood at its center."A truly perceptive study."American Heritage"Few books can be recommended wholeheartedly to the specialist and the general reader alike. This one can."New York Times Book Review"[Full of] Donald''s unparalleled knowledge and provocative interpretations."James M. McPherson, New York Times Book Review