United States: Essays 1952-1992 - "First Note on Abraham Lincoln" (1981) Summary & Analysis

This Study Guide consists of approximately 129 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of United States.
Study Guide

United States: Essays 1952-1992 - "First Note on Abraham Lincoln" (1981) Summary & Analysis

This Study Guide consists of approximately 129 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of United States.
This section contains 415 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the United States: Essays 1952-1992 Study Guide

"First Note on Abraham Lincoln" (1981) Summary and Analysis

Was the legendary sadness and depression so evident in portraits and historical descriptions of Abraham Lincoln because he gave syphilis to his wife, thereby causing her dementia and the early deaths of three of his sons? That is a possibility that can't be ruled out by the historical record, according to Vidal. In this brief essay on Lincoln, Vidal relies to an extent on the research and writings of Thomas Herndon, Lincoln's law partner and only friend. Despite the best efforts of "second rank poet" Carl Sandburg to depict Lincoln as a kind of "cornball Disneyland waxwork," he was an enormously complex and interesting man, Vidal says.

Born poor and possibly illegitimately, Lincoln was a wealthy lawyer and ambitious man by the time he was elected president. Vidal says it may...

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This section contains 415 words
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Buy the United States: Essays 1952-1992 Study Guide
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