Joshua Zeitz’s Lincoln's Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln's Image is a fascinating study of Lincoln’s personal secretaries, men who played more the part of chief of staff than modern, contemporary secretaries. In their early to mid-twenties, both young men exercised great power in their control of access and work flow to Abraham Lincoln; in the post war years they became two of his greatest advocates in framing his image for posterity.
Zeitz has written a fluid account, focusing on Hay and Nicolay’s life trajectory, while at the same time contextualizing them in their time. He also explains in great detail their work on the massive, multi-volume biography of Lincoln (the only authorized Lincoln biography, carefully supervised and edited by Todd Lincoln) which they worked over a decade to complete. This work, in many ways, still dominates the field of Lincoln studies.
Hay and Nicolay come across as very interesting men. Both were talented, yet a great deal of their success was due to luck as well as fortitude. Like Lincoln, difficult times brought out the best in them, a level of talent which may have lay dormant otherwise.
Zeitz has written a fluid account, focusing on Hay and Nicolay’s life trajectory, while at the same time contextualizing them in their time. He also explains in great detail their work on the massive, multi-volume biography of Lincoln (the only authorized Lincoln biography, carefully supervised and edited by Todd Lincoln) which they worked over a decade to complete. This work, in many ways, still dominates the field of Lincoln studies.
Hay and Nicolay come across as very interesting men. Both were talented, yet a great deal of their success was due to luck as well as fortitude. Like Lincoln, difficult times brought out the best in them, a level of talent which may have lay dormant otherwise.
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