David Herbert Donald died yesterday.
Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose. Looks like only yesterday. Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.
Thanks, Robert.
ReplyDeleteYou and Chartres are much closer readers of the news than I am. I had totally missed it, and had read the book review information from the Times today.
Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/books/19donald.html
As I posted down below, Fredrickson, in the little book on Lincoln I recently read (BIG ENOUGH TO BE INCONSISTENT) calls Donald and Cardwardine's biographies the two most notable recent biographies that manage to avoid "judging him from the standpoint of contemporary liberal or conservative ideologies" (this was published in 2008 so it was probably written before Burlingame's massive work).
He writes that "the balance and relative objectivity that characterize these works have been rare in the scholarship about a president who has become a national icon."
[Fredrickson provides an interesting historiographical overview of Lincoln studies/biographies, showing how, generally, we get the Lincoln we want and/or need.]
Robert, I added a picture for you but see now that your headline already links to the Times obituary. You are way ahead of me when it comes to this internet stuff.....
ReplyDeleteI saw that Donald got his start by examining Lincoln's law partner, William Herndon.
ReplyDeleteHere's a wonderful tribute, that was linked from the bibliophiles and battlefields site:
ReplyDeletehttp://hnn.us/articles/85629.html
Makes me want to run out and get one of his books.
Hi Folks!
ReplyDeleteGood to see that the exchange of ideas re American history is being conducted in a much more relaxed manner here on this forum.
So sad to read of the loss of the Professor Donald. He was a genius of a man who was remarkably articulate and knowledgeable about the Nation's past.
~~ known on another forum as Thanatopsy ~~
Great to have you aboard, Than. Drop me a line at Dzimas61@gmail.com and I can send you an invite to be a contributor.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Tripp.
ReplyDeleteHistory isn't dead. It isn't even past.
Grab a copy of Goodwin and join in.