Lincoln and Darwin: Two Men Who Shaped the World

Lincoln and Darwin: Two Men Who Shaped the World by Robert L. Henn compares the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, who were born on the same day, while alternating the biographies of each. It sounded like an interesting idea and to anyone who is interested in biographies, as I am, it might be worth a read. However, I feel that the reader is somewhat slighted, because we only get a very superficial biography of each person.

Not having read major biographies of either subject, Henn's outlines of their lives, isn't enough for me to really learn anything much about these two important historical figures. The writing style is somewhat simplistic too, easy to read, perhaps, but sometimes very boring. Henn is a biology teacher by profession, which may explain why the book doesn't read as well as I think it could.

I would ultimately say that Henn made a good try with his look at the lives of these two men, Darwin and Lincoln, but it somewhat falls flat because of the briefness of the study (the book only runs 124 pages) and the largeness of its subjects.

On the plus side, one can learn facts regarding these two important figures of history and it has many photographs, a bibliography and an index.


I received a free copy of this book for review from Dorrance Publishing.

I received a complimentary copy of Lincoln and Darwin: Two Men Who Shaped the World as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.