Lincoln's Boys
John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln's Image
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Narrated by:
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Malcolm Hillgartner
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By:
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Joshua Zeitz
About this listen
A timely and intimate look into Abraham Lincoln's White House through the lives of his two closest aides and confidants.
Lincoln's official secretaries, John Hay and John Nicolay, enjoyed more access, witnessed more history, and knew Lincoln better than anyone outside of the president's immediate family. Hay and Nicolay were the gatekeepers of the Lincoln legacy. They read poetry and attendeded the theater with the president, commiserated with him over Union army setbacks, and plotted electoral strategy. They were present at every seminal event, from the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation to Lincoln's delivery of the Gettysburg Address - and they wrote about it after his death.
In their biography of Lincoln, Hay and Nicolay fought to establish Lincoln's heroic legacy and to preserve a narrative that saw slavery - not states' rights - as the sole cause of the Civil War. As Joshua Zeitz shows, the image of a humble man with uncommon intellect who rose from obscurity to become a storied wartime leader and emancipator is very much their creation.
Drawing on letters, diaries, and memoirs, Lincoln's Boys is part political drama and part coming-of-age tale - a fascinating story of friendship, politics, war, and the contest over history and remembrance.
©2014 Joshua Zeitz (P)2014 Penguin AudiobookListeners also enjoyed...
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"An excellent addition to Civil War collections." (Booklist)
"A century before Harry Hopkins, Clark Clifford, or Ted Sorensen, John Hay and John Nicolay performed the duties of Presidential aide, advisor, political operative, and confidante. Even the great Abraham Lincoln needed support, and Joshua Zeitz captures perfectly the intimate, interior world of the White House.” (David Plouffe, former White House Senior Advisor)
"What a wonderful, welcome bookZe. itz has pulled off a difficult task - revealing how the myth of Lincoln came to be without distorting the true greatness of our extraordinary 16th President." (Ken Burns [filmmaker])
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Goodwin describes the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. With the help of the "muckraking" press, Roosevelt had wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers. Roosevelt led a revolution that he bequeathed to Taft only to see it compromised as Taft surrendered to money men and big business. The rupture led Roosevelt to run against Taft for president, an ultimately futile race that gave power away to the Democrats.
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Makes You Forget You Live in the 21st Century Good
- By Cynthia on 01-11-14
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Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Jon Meacham
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era.
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A Man and Biography Relevant to Our Day
- By Darwin8u on 11-14-12
By: Jon Meacham
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Alexander Hamilton
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.
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An Outstanding & Riveting Book!
- By Kevin on 03-04-05
By: Ron Chernow
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Adams vs. Jefferson
- The Tumultuous Election of 1800
- By: John Ferling
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning author John Ferling is a leading authority on the American Revolution. His entertaining and enlightening histories have greatly improved our understanding of early America and the Founding Fathers. Now Ferling opens a window to the past and explores the contentious presidential election of 1800.
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Outstanding work of interpretive history
- By D. Littman on 11-01-04
By: John Ferling
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Jefferson and Hamilton
- The Rivalry That Forged a Nation
- By: John Ferling
- Narrated by: Bo Foxworth
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The decade of the 1790s has been called the "age of passion". Fervor ran high as rival factions battled over the course of the new republic - each side convinced that the other's goals would betray the legacy of the Revolution so recently fought and so dearly won. All understood as well that what was at stake was not a moment's political advantage, but the future course of the American experiment in democracy. In this epochal debate, no two figures loomed larger than Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
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Biased and low quality
- By Yolanda Yzquierdo on 12-04-22
By: John Ferling
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Madness Rules the Hour
- Charleston, 1860, and the Mania for War
- By: Paul Starobin
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1860, Charleston, South Carolina, embodied the combustible spirit of the South. No city was more fervently attached to slavery, and no city was seen by the North as a greater threat to the bonds barely holding together the Union. And so, with Abraham Lincoln's election looming, Charleston's leaders faced a climactic decision: They could submit to abolition - or they could drive South Carolina out of the Union and hope that the rest of the South would follow.
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Madness Rules The Hour ...once more
- By Anonymous User on 05-06-21
By: Paul Starobin
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A Self-Made Man
- The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1849
- By: Sidney Blumenthal
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The first of a multivolume history of Lincoln as a political genius - from his obscure beginnings to his presidency, his assassination, and the overthrow of his post-Civil War dreams of Reconstruction. This first volume traces Lincoln from his painful youth, describing himself as "a slave", to his emergence as the man we recognize as Abraham Lincoln.
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I Can't Wait for Volume II!
- By NC-N-NC on 06-14-16
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Founders' Son
- A Life of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Richard Brookhiser
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Following Lincoln from his humble origins in Kentucky to his assassination in Washington, D.C., Brookhiser shows us every side of the man: laborer, lawyer, congressman, president; storyteller, wit, lover of ribald jokes; depressive, poet, friend, visionary. And he shows that despite his many roles and his varied life, Lincoln returned time and time again to the Founders.
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Excellent Research and Evenhanded Work
- By Amazon Customer on 09-26-15
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Lincoln and the Power of the Press
- The War for Public Opinion
- By: Harold Holzer
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 26 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In Lincoln and the Power of the Press, Harold Holzer shows us an activist Lincoln through journalists who covered him from his start to the night of his assassination. In a wholly original way, Holzer shows us politicized newspaper editors battling for power and a masterly president who used the press to speak directly to the people and shape the nation.
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Outstanding!
- By Sleepykitty on 02-22-15
By: Harold Holzer
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Separate
- The Story of Plessy V. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation
- By: Steve Luxenberg
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case synonymous with "separate but equal", created remarkably little stir when the justices announced their near-unanimous decision on May 18, 1896. Yet it is one of the most compelling and dramatic stories of the 19th century, whose outcome embraced and protected segregation, and whose reverberations are still felt into the 21st. Separate spans a striking range of characters and landscapes, bound together by the defining issue of their time and ours - race and equality.
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Black and White in shades of grey
- By JKC on 03-15-19
By: Steve Luxenberg
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James Madison
- By: Richard Brookhiser
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Eminent historian Richard Brookhiser presents a vivid portrait of James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” and one of America's greatest statesmen.
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OK book but not a biography
- By Joel Mayer on 08-05-12
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The Problem of Democracy
- The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality
- By: Nancy Isenberg, Andrew Burstein
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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John and John Quincy Adams: rogue intellectuals, unsparing truth-tellers, too uncensored for their own political good. They held that political participation demanded moral courage. They did not seek popularity (it showed). They lamented the fact that hero worship in America substituted idolatry for results; and they made it clear that they were talking about Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson. When John Adams succeeded George Washington as President, his son had already followed him into public service and was stationed in Europe as a diplomat.
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Very insightful and rewarding adding understanding
- By William on 05-12-19
By: Nancy Isenberg, and others
What listeners say about Lincoln's Boys
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- James
- 04-06-15
Best Publicists since Mathew, Mark, Luke, & John
What about Malcolm Hillgartner’s performance did you like?
Malcolm Hillgartner a brilliant narrator. His voice brings both sparkle and resonance to his performance. It was a true pleasure to listen to him. His credits include AudioFile Best Voice award in 2013 for Biography and Fiction for Kissinger to name but one honor.
Any additional comments?
No political leader since the father of our country, George Washington, holds a more revered position in our pantheon of political leaders then Abraham Lincoln. The work of his official secretaries, John Hay and John Nicolay are the chief apostils of the Lincoln image we have today. It is their work that crushed mean spirited or uninformed biographies that sought to capitalize on post assassination interest, and that burnished his image to the saintly figure we have today, embodied in the Lincoln memorial. If Washington is the god head of our country, then Lincoln is the sacrificial lamb who paid for the sin of slavery in the Constitution. His death and the deaths of 620,000 Civil War soldiers paid the price to expiate the sin of slavery from the Constitution through the 13th amendment and make a down payment on expiation from the body politic. The struggle goes on and other martyrs have joined Lincoln.
This book parallels the stories of the lives of John Hay and John Nicolay as they pursued their quite different lives after Lincoln’s death. During this time they maintained a friendship and had an ultimate goal to write the definitive history of Lincoln. The advantage these two authors had is that they retained the presidential papers of Abraham Lincoln. These papers formed the irrefutable reference base they cited to write their 10 volume history entitled, “Abraham Lincoln: A History” published in 1890. These volumes were a must have in every decent library, public or privet, for the next 100 years. The 10 volume set became the gospel definitive word on Lincoln. Most subsequent works on Lincoln are dependent of this predecessor work for their credibility.
The book also discusses some of the lessor biographies that show Lincoln in a more human and in less attractive or saintly light. Those books are based on half remembered stories from Lincoln’s youth from interviewed home town people who knew him as a youth or from a former early law partner or from newspaper or campaign archives.
Today we are able to see Lincoln as less than a saint without disparaging his accomplishments. Most saints do have a secular past and yet, when push came to shove, made the right call in the middle of adversity. That is what makes them worthy of saintly reverence. So if Lincoln or Saint Augustin had a spotted past, so what. It is what they did when time and events presented the right opportunity that count. Thus, for my money, Hay and Nicolay got it right; and this is the story of how all it happened. They were two lowly civil servant functionaries, earning a living, making their lives, who championed the mythic image of Lincoln in their signature work. I highly recommend this book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- HG
- 04-22-14
Confusing timeline presentation
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
So, so. The content and facts are good but the chronology jumps all over. Why is it so important for authors to use foreign language 'sayings and comments'? A number of French passages in this book that I don't have a clue what they mean other than the context of the subject.
What three words best describe Malcolm Hillgartner’s voice?
Satisfactory
Could you see Lincoln's Boys being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
No. Dull and uninteresting to most people - old history.
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- Evan
- 10-06-16
Great book with a lot new information
Good book with good insight in the Lincoln white house from two men that knew him best.
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- Charles
- 09-22-23
Enjoyable. New information.
Interesting new perspectives on momentous times. Author did good job of balancing impact of Lincoln on lives of the 2 men.
Readers pauses before every quote grew annoying, but understood need.
Author's bias against later years of Republican party obvious. Either give similar critique to democrat party or leave out politicizing entirely.
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- William G. Stuart
- 11-11-20
Fascinating Insight into History
I previously listened to All the Great Prizes, the biography of John Hay .That book is a meticulously researched book. This volume is no less meticulous and well researched. It focuses on the early years of Nicolay and Hay, then their collaboration during the Lincoln Administration and the two duo's decades-long effort to preserve (and reshape) the Lincoln legacy.
This isn't a "friendly" biography of any of the three primary subjects. The author presents their virtues and frailties, their public pronouncement and private thoughts, their beliefs and their actions.
Was the military skirmish during the Lincoln Administration fought over slavery or economic issues? Hay and Nicolay made sure that abolition was the catalyst. History prior to the war and Lincoln's own thoughts before and during the first battles of the war contradict this view. It's said that the winners of a war write the history. That's no less true here. And Hay and Nicolay were the primary authors.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mark Mears
- 09-23-23
Fascinating and informative
Lincoln’s Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay & the Fight for Lincoln’s Image
Joshua Zeitz
Very interesting. Mr. Zeitz did an admirable job of telling the story of these two men. They both began as young men working for President Lincoln as secretaries. They were fiercely loyal to him. Their lives were fascinating in their own rights. They became ambassadors, Hay became Sec of State; they both became important in DC politics.
As time went on, people began to distort Lincoln’s legacy for their own political purposes. These two fought for him, partly by writing an extensive biography to protect his name.
Now I have to go read that!
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