I chose this book because the title was "prelude to greatness" meaning the author was saying that Abraham Lincoln was great when he came into power. I agree with him, Mr. Lincoln did many extraordinary things in his life such as opposing slavery and winning the war to help blacks be free, because if it weren't for him then we still might have slavery to this day.
In my opinion the author Don E. Fehrenbacher is very qualified to write a book on Abraham Lincoln. He is a history professor at Stanford University, and has done a great job explaining Lincoln's life. He is qualified to write this book because he has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and was with and educated with the US Army during World War 2. He has taught for a total of 44 years and flew 30 combat missions over Germany and occupied Europe, he has written a total of nine books in his career and four of them were on Lincoln. In 1997 the same year that he passed away. he was awarded the Lincoln Prize for a lifetime of contributions to the study of the Civil War era. He is also the winner of the John H. Dunning Prize awarded by the American Historical Association.
The book Prelude to Greatness wasn't that well organized, it was a little complicated to follow at times. This book was more of a book that concentrated during his pre-presidential life then a biography of his life. A lot of the material in this book was scattered and hard to find, I think this book was a little difficult to follow.
These are some of his sources of information. The Personal finances of Abraham Lincoln, The man who elected Lincoln, The Era of the Civil War, Congressman Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, The president, Lincoln becomes a Republican . The other sources are the collected works of Abraham Lincoln and The Chicago Press and Tribune. He didn't quote anybody for his book.
