Fred Kaplan

“To give credit to Lincoln for moral progression seems beyond the facts and unnecessary for our appreciation of this arguably greatest of all American presidents.”

“The value of Eric Foner's 'The Fiery Trial' lies in its comprehensive review of mostly familiar material; in its sensible evaluation of the full range of information already available about Abraham Lincoln and slavery; and in the deft thoroughness of its scholarship.”

“I started out as a writer of fiction, but nobody wanted to publish my work as a young man. So I decided to put my interest in the narrative writing of biographies.”

“Can a great artist be mean-spirited, grasping, harsh to his family, violent in his emotions, vindictive in his hatreds, an all-purpose scoundrel? If our test cases are the likes of Wagner, Picasso, and, let me say, Dickens, the answer is a resounding yes.”

“Is there really any relationship between artists' personal conduct and their art? Certainly not.”

“Words about Lincoln fill a small but ever-growing library.”

“I got to know Gore Vidal quite well, up front and personal: his magnificent strengths and his appalling, almost other-worldly weaknesses.”

“A recommendation to scholars: Write only one book about Lincoln; give it your best shot, and then move on.”

“Lincoln is a genius of language and a brilliant writer who deserves to be seen as part of the canon of great writers in American literature.”