The Speeches & Writings of Abraham Lincoln: A Library of America Boxed Set

In the recently published "Renegades", President Obama refers to Abraham Lincoln as "one of America's greatest writers". Anyone surprised by this statement will be less so after reading the speeches and writings of the 16th President and will only have to agree with Barack Obama: Lincoln is, without a doubt, a great writer. This set of two books covers a long writing career, eminently political, which is nevertheless shockingly flawless. And it does have perhap more merit because like his contemporary Thoreau or like Baldwin and Faulkner after him, Lincoln taught himself to write reading and rereading Shakespeare and very litle else. And then perhaps more importantly, as a recent Lincoln biographer (David Reynolds) does remind us, Lincoln was especially, if not solely, concern with writing clearly. He did not write to impress or to win acolytes, but just to be understood. As a sample, in one of his best known speeches (the now canonical second inauguration) 80% of the words have only one or two syllables.The set of books cover the man's output from his early twenties to the notes of a Presidency issued just days before the infamous assassination, and one by one, each piece is magnificent.Seldom a man wrote so well, never a man said more with less.