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Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed
Contributor(s): Strozier, Charles (Author)
ISBN: 0231171331     ISBN-13: 9780231171335
Publisher: Columbia University Press
OUR PRICE:   $25.74  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: April 2018
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Presidents & Heads Of State
- History | United States - 19th Century
- History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Dewey: 973.709
Physical Information: 1" H x 6" W x 8.9" (1.05 lbs) 352 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 1851-1899
- Topical - Civil War
- Chronological Period - 19th Century
- Topical - Friendship
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
On April 15, 1837, a "long, gawky" Abraham Lincoln walked into Joshua Speed's dry-goods store in Springfield, Illinois, and asked what it would cost to buy the materials for a bed. Speed said seventeen dollars, which Lincoln didn't have. He asked for a loan to cover that amount until Christmas. Speed was taken with his visitor, but, as he said later, "I never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face." Speed suggested Lincoln stay with him in a room over his store for free and share his large double bed. What began would become one of the most important friendships in American history.

Speed was Lincoln's closest confidant, offering him invaluable support after the death of his first love, Ann Rutledge, and during his rocky courtship of Mary Todd. Lincoln needed Speed for guidance, support, and empathy. Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln is a rich analysis of a relationship that was both a model of male friendship and a specific dynamic between two brilliant but fascinatingly flawed men who played off each other's strengths and weaknesses to launch themselves in love and life. Their friendship resolves important questions about Lincoln's early years and adds significant psychological depth to our understanding of our sixteenth president.