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The Reading Room Blog

  1. The Literal Powers of Words - A Park Service employee swept the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 2007. (Larry Downing/Reuters) I think Chip and I agree about a central idea about Lincoln: the imperfection is part of his perfection. There is something wise about his knowing sadness; he knows how hard won everything is, and how easily lost. Now, Lincoln [...]
  2. Lincoln the Writer - Q. As writers yourselves, can you talk a bit about Lincoln's writing, what you find especially striking or impressive? A. Lincoln the writer is probably my favorite Lincoln of all, and I found Fred Kaplan's new book, "Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer" immensely instructive. Gary Wills's now classic little book on the Gettysburg [...]
  3. A Story Worth Telling - Q. Lincoln loved to tell stories, and is himself the subject of countless stories and anecdotes. What is one of your favorites? A. The Civil War era newspaperman and (later) railroad baron Henry Villard once said, "I think it would be hard to find one who tells better jokes, enjoys them better and laughs oftener than [...]
  4. A Restless Self-Improver - I love that Lincoln is the only United States president ever to be awarded a patent –for a device that would lift flatboats over shoals. And one of my favorite images from James M. McPherson's new book, "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief," is Lincoln test-firing new rifles on [...]
  5. The Surprise of Lincoln - Q. Americans hear about Lincoln from the time they start school – or even before. In your recent reading, what have you learned about him that you didn't know before? A. When reading about Lincoln, the surprise I get isn't at learning something about him I didn't know before - there's too much of that for [...]
  6. Far From Perfect - As Ed says, Lincoln was far from perfect, and to me, in my belated journey of rediscovery, that's part of the appeal. Far from the alabaster saint that was presented to us in school, he was endearingly, touchingly human. He was awkward with girls. He loved dirty jokes. Why didn't they [...]
  7. Lincoln's Allure - When I was a child, before I even knew who Lincoln was, I remember being posed one of those "brain teasers": how many Lincolns can be found on a penny? One, obviously. But no, look at the Lincoln Memorial on the tail side. There between the central pillars can be glimpsed an outline of the imposing statue. Two. It's a bit like this whenever I start to look more closely at Lincoln.
  8. Rediscovering Lincoln - There has probably never been a better moment for rediscovering such a towering figure.
  9. Lincoln-mania! - With the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth just two months away, Edward Rothstein and Charles McGrath discuss the president's immense legacy.
  10. Lighting Out for the Territories - Thank you all, panelists and readers. What a joy it's been plumbing the fathomless depths of Lake Fingerbone these past two weeks, and with such a thoughtful, engaged crew of fellow obsessives. We may not have found Grandpa Foster's derailed train, but I'm pretty sure that's the only secret the lake didn't surrender to our [...]
  11. Life in a Western Town - After my book "Dakota" was published, I received many letters from people who had roots in the western Plains. In one, a woman whose grandparents had been neighbors of my mother's family when she was a girl asked, "Can you tell me if my grandmother committed suicide?" Her family name was familiar to me, but [...]
  12. Sisters - Becky Sinkler in her final post wrote in such an eloquent and timely fashion about mothers. Missing mothers abound in "Housekeeping," but I've found myself thinking these last couple of days about siblings. The story of the good sibling and the bad sibling - Cain and Abel - is such an old one and such [...]
  13. Mothers' Day - There is a dream most mothers have, a nightmare really. It goes like this: you are away somewhere, and you remember you have left your children at home, perhaps for a week, and haven't fed them. You can't get back to them. Or it could be a litter of puppies or kittens other stand-ins for [...]
  14. Wondrous Dread - As its title suggest, "Housekeeping" starts by seeming to engage the niceties of human domestic order; but the word soon hints how hard it is to "keep" much of anything. Not simply our purchase on mere real estate, but our grasp on any assurance that is real, lasting. When Lucille defects, it is [...]
  15. A Flood of Allusions? - I had to laugh when I was awakened in my apartment yesterday to a bathroom flood. It was clean water (unlike the heavy-laden waters of Lake Fingerbone) overflowing the toilet tank, and it was a relatively simple matter to turn off the valve and use every towel I own to mop up the mess. But [...]