David Herbert Donald (1920–2009)
Author of Lincoln
About the Author
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and historian David Herbert Donald was born October 1, 1920 in Goodman, Miss. He married Aida DiPace in 1955, they had one child, Bruce Randall. He received an A.B. in 1941 from Millsaps College; an A.M. in 1942, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1946. show more Donald has been an associate professor of history at Smith College and a professor of history at Columbia University; Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University. He was also Harry C. Warren Professor of American History, chair of the graduate program in American civilization, and professor emeritus at Harvard University. Much of Donald's work involves exploring and interpreting the American Civil War and its central figure, Abraham Lincoln. Some recent works includes Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe, Lincoln, and Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, 1996. He received Pulitzer Prizes in biography for both Charles Sumner and Look Homeward. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
This is the author page for David Herbert Donald, the historian and biographer. There is a separate author page for David Donald, the expert in military aviation history. Please do not combine the two. Thank you.
Series
Works by David Herbert Donald
Associated Works
Booknotes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing, and the Power of Ideas (1997) — Contributor — 437 copies, 5 reviews
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Winter 1996 (1995) — Author "Lincoln Takes Charge" — 14 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Donald, David Herbert
- Other names
- Herbert, D. D.
- Birthdate
- 1920-10-01
- Date of death
- 2009-05-17
- Burial location
- Lincoln Cemetery, Lincoln, Massachusetts, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Goodman, Mississippi, USA
- Place of death
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Cause of death
- heart failure
- Places of residence
- Lincoln, Massachusetts, USA
Wellfleet, Massachusetts, USA
Key West, Florida, USA - Education
- University of Illinois (MA|1942|Ph.D|1946)
Milsaps College (BA|1941) - Occupations
- historian
professor - Relationships
- Donald, Bruce (son)
Donald, Aida D. (spouse) - Organizations
- Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Columbia University
Smith College
American Historical Association
Society of American Historians (show all 8)
Organization of American Historians
Southern Historical Association - Awards and honors
- Pulitzer Prize (1961, 1988)
Bruce Catton Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2006)
Order of Lincoln (2008)
Golden Plate Award (1997)
Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement (2000)
Lincoln Prize (1996) (show all 11)
Phi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Delta
Pi Kappa Alpha
Omicron Delta Kappa
Phi Beta Kappa - Disambiguation notice
- This is the author page for David Herbert Donald, the historian and biographer. There is a separate author page for David Donald, the expert in military aviation history. Please do not combine the two. Thank you.
Members
Reviews
Lincoln by David Herbert Donald
Here's all you need to know about Lincoln. He was challenged to a duel and as the challenged party, got to choose the weapon. He chose broadswords.
David Herbert Donald earned a Pulitzer for some of his other works, and he should have earned it for this one. It is a great, grand biography of Lincoln, and probably the best single-volume biography of Lincoln extant. It is a better update of Sandburg's and better than Jon Meacham's recent volume. (My only caveat is that I have not yet read A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White.)
Donald has a big focus on politics, from the nitty gritty of campaigning to the ideas. It is well-written and covers everything in fine fashion. It endeavors o take things only from Lincoln's perspective, and thus ends abruptly with his death. (What happened to Robert? Tad? Mary? You must look elsewhere. Reconstruction? Elsewhere. Legacy? Elsewhere.) But, it was one of the first of the Lincoln biographies to cover his changing faith fairly well. Donald covers Lincoln's evolving ideas on slavery (and colonization), particularly his conservative, go-slow approach. A good bit too (more than Meacham, for instance) on his career a lawyer. Herndon and Sumner appear as major characters (Donald wrote books on them too, so it is only fitting he uses them as lenses to understand Lincoln.)… (more)
Donald has a big focus on politics, from the nitty gritty of campaigning to the ideas. It is well-written and covers everything in fine fashion. It endeavors o take things only from Lincoln's perspective, and thus ends abruptly with his death. (What happened to Robert? Tad? Mary? You must look elsewhere. Reconstruction? Elsewhere. Legacy? Elsewhere.) But, it was one of the first of the Lincoln biographies to cover his changing faith fairly well. Donald covers Lincoln's evolving ideas on slavery (and colonization), particularly his conservative, go-slow approach. A good bit too (more than Meacham, for instance) on his career a lawyer. Herndon and Sumner appear as major characters (Donald wrote books on them too, so it is only fitting he uses them as lenses to understand Lincoln.)… (more)
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tuckerresearch | 26 other reviews | Aug 7, 2023 |
tuckerresearch | 26 other reviews | Aug 7, 2023 | Lists
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Statistics
- Works
- 21
- Also by
- 9
- Members
- 5,450
- Popularity
- #4,566
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 37
- ISBNs
- 94
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 7
