I got a book for philosophy class called "Rise to Greatness" by David Von Drehle which is about Lincoln's rise as the best president ever starting with when he was looked down upon as a president. It starts out on new years day 1862, when the war was on but the union was losing everything up to that point. It goes into such detail about Abe's thougths and everything he said and this and that and every one of those damn politicians should read it. I have only read 37 pages of it out of 460 and it's just incredible. I hate books, but I couldn't put this one down. If you guys want to read something and have some free time....this is the book to read. Turns out I wasn't supposed to be reading it and was supposed to read this other piece of crap. So because of my ignorance, I was awarded. Cept now I have the other book to read a crapload out of and then put this one aside. Has anyone else read it?

No sir. But if a person can't stop reading a book and they are from being a bookworm like me, then it has to be something of value.Although, as contrary as it may be, I at first had high respect for Lincoln. Then when I learned a little more, which may not be factual at all, I have become a little more washy on him. Just some things I have been told by some old timers...

It kinda lets you form your own opinion of him. You could tell some of the things he did were a little one sided as in my way or the highway. He told a general he wanted to do something and the general said something about nothing good can come of being hasty and lincoln kinda gave him a smart@$$ comment in response telling him what he wanted done and to "not think about it too long..." I don't know what to truly think of him as I somehow never gained any notion in life to idolize anyone so I just kinda see him as having interesting causes and effects and the book just makes it so neat to learn about. Yes I hate books. Most of them don't make sense, have words that just don't bode well, they just suck. So to read something about history/philosophy/and causes and effects and to have it actually flow incredibly well while also being very easy to comprehend is something I just can't resist. But apparently I have to read 4 chapters of the right book and a chapter on some other crap in history. Who knows when I'll have time for this again.

I have followed some of ol Abes history and a majority of books gloss over his career and totally ingnore his real self.

There are several authors out there who get the facts straight, here is a recent article about such an author and a link to his book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874850851?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0874850851&linkCode=xm2&tag=lewrockwell

http://lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo241.html

"Who freed the slaves? To the extent that they were ever ‘freed,’ they were freed by the Thirteenth Amendment, which was authored and pressured into existence not by Lincoln but by the great emancipators nobody knows, the abolitionists and congressional leaders who created the climate and generated the pressure that goaded, prodded, drove, forced Lincoln into glory by associating him with a policy that he adamantly opposed for at least fifty-four of his fifty-six years of his life."

Lerone Bennett, Jr., Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’ s White Dream, p. 19

It's interesting how theres always 2 sides to everything. Every story has an opposing conspiracy, political parties have opposite views, we have opposing thoughts to every situation even if it's our own. I'm not sure what to think of it all. Is it a necessity to get the best benefit? Or is it merely a way to slow down the process of everything and create doubts in everyone. If there is a truth, why is it never publicized and verified. We don't know the truth to anything. We don't know what every word of the bible truly means and probably don't know what really happened at sandy hook. In a world full of doubt and greed, how do we learn from each other? How do we know what to believe? It's a very interesting world. I personally believe anyone who thinks they know the answer to that is full of ****. If we were robots then it would be simple, but stories change, memories change, everything changes. What someone says they will do one day will change the next. What the media or books portray are just as variated. So I don't know what to believe but that is why I do no idolize. You read about it and gather ideals that will benefit you or your thoughts possibly to help understand the previous unanswered questions of humanity. But there is one thing thats for sure, you will never get a solid answer