Review of "Citizen of New Salem," by Paul Horgan

 Review of

Citizen of New Salem, by Paul Horgan

Four out of five stars

The early years of Abraham Lincoln

 Abraham Lincoln was very much a child and young man of the frontier. In his youth, the frontier was Illinois and Indiana, where he lived. This book is about his life from 1830, when he was 21, until the time he started practicing law in 1836. These six years were very productive, where Lincoln went from being nearly illiterate to learned enough to pass the bar and engage in an effective law practice.

 He did many things, from captain of the militia in the Blackhawk Wars, he was a local postmaster, he traveled on river barges, owned and operated a store and was at times unemployed. Through it all, he continued bettering himself and made friends of all he encountered. At six-foot-four, Lincoln was a relative giant, and he was apparently extremely strong. When fights broke out at political rallies, he often physically separated the antagonists.

 One of the most interesting statements in the book is on page 28. It is a passage in a description about the one-room cabins. “Family and visitors slept together, in an unbroken decorum. Women drew off their frocks and men their jackets and shirts and breeches, and hung all these on pegs in the wall. All retained their underclothing and nobody felt ‘consciousness of impropriety or indelicacy,’ a citizen declared.”

 Written for the YA market, this book covers only a few years in the life of one of the greatest Americans. Yet, it captures the essence of what made him the unique man he was.