Product Description
Originally published in six volumes, Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln was called “the greatest historical biography of our generation.” Sandburg distilled this work into one volume that became the definitive life of Lincoln. Index; photographs.
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Customer Reviews (12)

Broad shoulders from the heartland...
It is fitting that the man whose 1916 poem popularized the expression "city of broad shoulders" for Chicago should write the definitive biography of Abraham Lincoln. The President who had to have the broadest shoulders of all, even more so than Franklin Roosevelt, since Lincoln presided over the American Civil War, came from the America's heartland, Kentucky, Indiana, and most certainly, Illinois. Carl Sandburg's monumental work was first published in 1954. Subsequently there have been various editions; mine was published by Harvest/HBJ in 1982. Sandburg, who was born not that long after the Civil War, says in the preface to this edition: "As a growing boy in an Illinois prairie town I saw marching men who had fought under Grant and Sherman..."

At over 1200 pages, Sandburg's portrait of Lincoln is an in-depth one, and the author has a knack for identifying telling details that illuminate Lincoln's character. For example, in terms of economics, he was a strong advocate of autarky; national self-sufficiency, calling the efforts to produce products abroad and bring them to America "useless labor" (p 155). The book is replete with photographs, a technology which finally came into its own during the Civil War. There is a telling one of Lincoln, in top hat, a full head taller than McClellan, and the rest of his staff, at a meeting in Antietam.

Long before teleprompters and speech writers, Lincoln was perhaps our most articulate President. Most famously, he is known for the Gettysburg address, but Sandburg highlighted other brilliant formulations, for example, during Lincoln's debates with Judge Douglas, in the campaign for the Senate seat in 1958, he said: "It is the eternal struggle between these two principles...The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same...spirit that says, `You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race..."

This book rectified a major deficiency in my American education, almost certainly shared by other readers of this review. Sandburg thoroughly covers Lincoln's "feet of clay." Like most schoolchildren, I was taught that "Lincoln freed the slaves," with the Emancipation Proclamation. In reality, he ONLY freed the slaves in areas that the Union troops did NOT control. The Proclamation specifically excluded, county by county, the areas that Union troops controlled in Louisiana and Virginia, the entire state of Tennessee, and the four "Border States" of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware. The New York Herald commented on this cynical political maneuver thusly: "While the Proclamation leaves slavery untouched where his decree can be enforced, he emancipated slaves where his decree cannot be enforced. Friends of human rights will be at a loss to understand this discrimination." (Note: at the end of the war, all slaves were freed.)

Lincoln the statesman, Lincoln the man, Lincoln the essential President, Lincoln the cynical politician; it is all here in Sandburg's superlative work.

Ancient history, or words for the present? Lincoln also said: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves."A quaint verb for the present: "disenthrall."Turn off the TV, and read a 5-star book, for example.

The Train Ride...
To commerate Lincoln's train ride to his Inauguration in February, 1861, here is one account of the rumors and change in plans.He'd left Springfield, Illinois, on the 11th on a rambling route to Philadelphia where he took part in raising the flag on the 22nd.Inside Independence Hall at 6 a.m., he spoke to an audience crowding all corners and overflowing.He had given three speeches along the way.

It was as he reached this event that he learned about an assassination plot from Allan Pinkerton, the noted railroad detective.It was to take place in Baltimore, Maryland as the roughnecks continue to "blow up trains and burn railroad bridges" the way they did throughout the War.It was arranged for the President-elect to journey from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on a two-car train to Washington, D.C.It was there when the change in plans became known, including A. K. McClure, founder of the Republican party.

The substitute train in which Lincoln slept in his rear berth reached Baltimore in the early morning hours where someone on the platform sang "Dixie" over and over.At 6 a.m. he stepped off the train in Washington safely and a few hours ahead of schedule.

A monumental work
If you are a student of Abraham Lincoln your education is not complete without having read Sandburg's Lincoln. Yes, it is poetic. Yes, he strays into myth making and telling. Even so, it is a masterpiece.

Abe Does it Again!
At first I had to develop some kind of a dedication to keep up with the readings. I found it a rather intriging read but some it was a little sad and informative at the same time. The book kind of reminds me of a political science book that I still have. Carl is a brilliant writer, yes he is and I have deep respect for him. This book can prove that Marilyn Monroe is not a dum blond because she was once friends with the writer and she may of had a copy of this book to remember her friend Carl Sandburg. I had to have patience in reading this book because Carl Sandburg is such a deep thinker in his writing formats.

Lincoln biography par excellence
After searching for the quintessential Lincoln biography to read, as my introduction to studying this fascinating man, I settled on Sandberg.He was a great pleasure to spend several weeks with! Even though we know this book was completed in the 1930's it is so well written and held up by so many academics and scholars as quintessential. It is true masterpie. Many more, hundreds in fact, books have been published as biography since Sandberg but his alone provides the understanding and genesis of how Lincoln came to be Lincoln.
America (2008) is searching for the next Lincoln: revered on the right and the left, revered in the center, revered on the political fringes, we need a leader, statesman, collaborator, bold leader today more then ever. ... Read more

Product Description
The definitive edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning collection. "A marvelous prosody, a perfect ear for the beautiful potentials of common speech, something he learned from folk song, but mostly he learned from just listening" (Kenneth Rexroth).
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Customer Reviews (8)

Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg
This book of Carl Sandburg's poems is a real bargain.I'm delighted at

the price I paid-the book is in wonderful condition-I can read until

my eyes turn red and not have to worry about checking it out of the

library over and over again.

The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg
Nicely bound.Really does have all of his poems.Good paper quality.Very satisfied.

Good stuff
I read some stuff by Carl Sandburg when I was in high school, but now that I am considering writing as more of an art form I wanted to delve more into poetry, and this book is definately a great collection of one of America's greatest poets

Beautiful and strange observations of Americana
I am a big fan of Sandburg. This is the most complete collection of his works that I have seen. His poetry is so full of strength and hope. Nothing is too frilly but still very beautiful. His poetry always reminds me of the verbal equivalent of a piece of art by Norman Rockwell - true down to the dirt on the skin but so full of awe and respect for his subject. Have a wonderful time reading this collection!

Poetry Of A Fierce But Gentle Soul
Fifty years ago Carl Sandburg's poetry could be found in nearly every library, classroom and (in some form) home in America, but in the hurried twenty-first century, where too much bad poetry has spoiled whole living generations on the art, he is all-but lost to our social consciousness. This poet of freedom (even his poems disobey every respected rule of form) penned verses that celebrated the American spirit as no other writer had since Walt Whitman. If presented with a sampling of his most famous lines, the average American would probably light up and say, "Oh, yeah! Okay, I've heard that one." Reading the collected works of this Midwesterner is full of such moments of re-discovery. All of Sandburg's published books are here, putting his many hundreds of poems on display. His finest work, the controversial, slow-moving, stream of consciousness piece "The People, Yes" alone makes this anthology a gift to modern readers, but many other unexpected gems await to delight, challenge, inform, or taunt with sheer irony. Though some of these poems date back nearly a century, at no time does Sandburg ever sound anything but cutting-edge and post-modern. He is one of the greats for all ages of man. ... Read more

Product Description
This new collection of Sandburg’s finest and most representative poetry draws on all of his previous volumes and includes four unpublished poems about Lincoln. The Hendricks’ comprehensive introduction discusses how Sandburg’s life and beliefs colored his work and why it continues to resonate so deeply with americans today. Edited and with an Introduction by George and Willene Hendrick.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Selected Poems of Carl Sandburg
A splendid collage of American poetry nurtured by a deep love of the land, it's intricate nature and complex heritage by one who involved his soul into its heritage and history.

Great Intro to Sandburg
If I were teaching Sandburg, i would use this collection as my text.

The introduction is concise, yet informative, giving some quick context to the life and ideas behind the poems.

Keeping in mind this is a selectedworks, and not a complete works, think of this as a "best of"edition.

Organized by ideas: * Chicago * Images * Poems of Protest *Love Poems * Lincoln * Anti-War and War Poems * Portraits *African-Americans * Poet of the People * Musings * Poetry Definitions.

Byorganizing them idealogically, it helps the reader becoming familiar withSandburg as a primer. You can see his clear cynicism of religion and ofreligious people, and of his socialistic leanings (he is direct about thesethoughts). His "Billy Sunday" is an intriguing look at a man whowas just a man, yet spoke about Christ. Though Sandburg was known to beatheistic, it could be argued he had more spiritual thoughts.

You canread his sense of empathy and unity with the common man. Any urban dwellerwill hum in agreement to so much of his Chicago poems.

Sandburg's senseof rural beauty comes out, as does his pure admiration of Lincoln.Well-said is his recollection of the sinking of the Eastland (a boat whichsunk in the Chicago River)... or, rather, his thoughts of how so manypeople died, and how many might've died.

I could go poem by poem, but thefact remains that Sandburg's style impacts poets today, from the Beats toMaya Angelou, to Gwendolyn Brooks.

I fully recommend this book.

AnthonyTrendl

great poet
Sandburg was a superb poet. he speaks in such a raw voice, that the poems cannot help but to reach out and touch you, whether he writes about love, injustice, protest, war, chicago or any other subject. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the poet who became known for his ability to speak to the common people, by shaping out of the plain English of ordinary Americans the voice of their vast experience. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (7)

Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years
Carl Sandburg captures the essence of a president struggling with the many different forces plaguing the nation.He does this with humor and insight as to how Lincoln navigated the many personalities and issues.There are many lessons for today.

A Thorough and Artistic Teatment
Abraham Lincoln comes to life through the words of his devoted and talented biographer, Carl Sandburg.This edition is an excellent compromise between Sandburg's six-volume editionand the shorter, incomplete texts that abound regarding Lincoln.Take your time with this masterpiece and follow Lincoln from youth through the climax of his political career in Washington.

definitive Lincoln by one of America's best
Thousands upon thousands of Civil War books are available, as American readers seem to have a limitless appetite for that era. If you are looking for the best, read Sandburg on Lincoln.A major American poet takes on one of the best-known, best-loved, most tragic of American historical figures.

When I was a freshman in high school, our English teacher offered us a deal:Anyone who read Sandburg's biography (then in six rather daunting volumes) would not have to attend class for a semester.I took him up on that offer, and was blessed to find my way through Sandburg's gift to the American people.Here is the highly detailed, thoroughly researched, and articulately written story of Abe Lincoln's years among us.

If you have time to read only one of the Civil War books from that burgeoning genre, read this one.You will come to know, from the inside out,this prairie boy who became a towering figure in American history.

A Pulitzer Prize winner's master work.
I believe Sandburg is the only author to win the Pulitzer for both poetry and history. Originally a multi volume history taking decades to complete,this single volume work is an appetizer.I read it in the 1960's and wenton with relish to the full multi volume work.

This single volume isinsightful, laser like in it's detail yet painting the times of Lincoln ina broad and beautiful brush. Did you know that in 1860 tools could be honedto within one ten thousandth of an inch of accuracy? That magazines andnewspapers said the world would change for-ever because of the new"instant" communication nation wide?

This is more thanbiography. It is a woven fabric depicting the times and life of AbrahamLincoln.

An American Classic on a Classic American
I collect old and rare books.My mother bought me a copy of Sandburg's one-volume edition published in 1954.Honestly, it was slow to start, but once it got to the 1850's, I couldn't put it down. Lincoln's deeds are sooften trivialized in our history books.But Sandburg meticulously buildsup the background in a way that forces his reader to appreciate themagnitude of the moment, and the importance of each decision--whether rightor wrong--that President Lincoln made. It easily took three full weeks toread, but it was more than worth it.I closed the book thinking, "Ican't believe it's over!"My advice: Read this book right away, andmake someone else read it too.You'll need someone to talk to when you'rethrough! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Comments on Carl Sandburg's biography of Lincoln
Sandburg's 'Lincoln' is exhaustively researched, and magnificently illuminating.The photographs and illustrations in this edition add admirably to the prose.I feel all the more that Lincoln stands alone as the greatest political leader of all time.Forced at the outset of his presidency into a terrible war, he was, I think, the only leader in comparable circumstances to prosecute that war to complete victory without a trace of hatred or anger.Set against a backdrop of vast and furious-paced events, Sandburg's cadenced account brings out admirably the President's combination of towering moral stature and extraordinary executive ability.The Emancipation Proclamation was, and remains, the single greatest political act in human history.

Good for the coffee table
If this book wasn't loosely based on the excellent Sandburg master I would have only given it two stars. This abridgment is a mess. Vital sections have been sacrificed, paragraphs have been poorly spliced together, photos and paragraphs are duplicated by obvious mistake, sentences have been mangled until they only resemble English, and it so states that presidents can be reflected for a second term of office. I question the editor's judgment and suspect the proofreader's presence. If I had my money back I would purchase the 800 page Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years (Paperback) instead.
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Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Collection Of Contrasts
Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 - July 22, 1967) in 1919 was one of the second recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for his collection "Cornhuskers".The collection is divided into several sections including: "Cornhuskers"; "Persons Half Known"; "Leather Leggings"; "Haunts"; and "Shenandoah".Each of the sections has its own feel to it and the poems range from the long "Prairie" and "The Four Brothers" which bookend the entire collection, to the very short, such as "Cartoon".The subject or the poems also contrasts, though one would expect that in most collections.Lastly, time itself has added an additional contrast to the collection which I will discuss later.

"Cornhuskers" includes poems about life on the great plains of the United States.It opens with the masterful 11-page "Prairie", which is unlike any other poem in the section and only is approached in terms of scope by "The Four Brothers" which closes the collection.The poems in this section often deal with nature and history and the feel of life in the rural plains areas.

"Person's Half Known" includes poems about people of some renown, though who they are is not always readily apparent."Chicago Poet" is about himself,"Fire-Logs" is about Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, and other people he writes about include the likes of Inez Milholland, Adelaide Crapsey, and others, and one can enjoy a trip through history in learning about the subjects of these poems.

"Leather Leggings" is an unusual section as it seems to have more to do with the activities of people, though some of the poems don't necessarily fit that loose definition.The poems deal with a very wide variety of professions, activities, and the products of those labors.As an example, "Clocks" deals with a variety of time-pieces and how they are used in different ways and "Flat Lands" deals with those in the real estate profession.

"Haunts" deals with those feelings and memories which one remembers throughout their life.Here there are poems remembering a love, a special time, one's lost childhood, music, faith, and much more.

The last section is "Shenandoah", which contains poems about war, and for whatever reason this section feels even more timeless than the rest of the book.Perhaps that is because this world so seldom knows real peace that one can easily identify with the feelings and images which these poems bring to mind.

This a tremendous collection of poems, which are filled with history, feelings, images, and so much more.It has but one weakness, and that is a word which has become so hateful that it pains the reader to run across it at any time, and certainly when reading such wonderful poetry.It appears fewer than 10 times in the book, and yet each time it does it gives one pause.It makes one wish for a new edition to remove it or change it, but at the same time one would never want to lose or change such art.Thus all one can do is to reflect on the mistakes of our past and appreciate how such words and hatred can damage even that which was created for the most benign purpose.

"The Old Things Go, Not One Lasts"
The single edition of Cornhuskers (1918) is further evidence that Carl Sandburg's work is best served by The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg, the most recent edition of which was published in 2003.

While the propagandistic Chicago Poems (1916) focused mainly on the plight of the urban poor, Cornhuskers, as its title suggests, is largely a meditation on the life and experience of the prairie farmer during the first quarter of the 20th century. Sandburg was a poet who seemed to find personal meaning largely in the present moment, and thus, while Cornhuskers records and occasionally celebrates the agricultural year and the people who live by it, death, mortality, and the transience of all things is a continuous motif. These themes intermingle freely with a honest, often blunt candor about the violence and sacrifice inherent in survival. The everyman farmer addressed in 'Prairie,' for example, is calmly advised by nature to "Kill your hogs with a knife slit under the ear. Hack them with cleavers. Hang them with hooks in the hind legs." Nor does the poet ignore the savagery of man and all creatures. 'Wilderness' acknowledges that "There is a wolf in me...fangs pointed for tearing gashes...a red tongue for raw meat...and the hot lapping of blood...I sing and kill and work: I am a pal of the world: I came from the wilderness."

Sandburg was a poet of observation, and those reflected in Cornhuskers are almost continually pensive: sorrow, loneliness, unfulfilled longing, and human isolation color the Midwestern landscape. "The gloaming is bitter," he states in 'Sunset From Omaha Hotel Window,' not only in Omaha, but "in Chicago or Kenosha." Sleeping dogs dream "Not any hate, not any love, not anything but dreams" in 'Three Pieces on the Smoke of Autumn,' unlike man. The tradesman of 'Bricklayer Love'says, "I have thought of killing myself because I am only a bricklayer and you a woman who loves the man who runs a drug store." The speaker in 'Testament' serenely consigns his corpse to the earth, where the "nanny goats and billy goats of the shanty people eat the clover over my grave," for "I have had my chance to live with the people who have too much and the people who have too little and I chose one of the two and I have told no man why." The poet of 'In Tall Grass' offers his bleached skull to the bees so that they may use it to build a honeycomb. 'Cool Tombs' addresses the marginality of human accomplishment and celebrity in the face of mortality, whether for Abraham Lincoln, Ulyyses Grant, Pocahontas, or "any streetful of people." In 'Prairie,' Sandburg observes "the past is a bucket of ashes." In one of Cornhuskers most famous entries, 'Grass,' humanity is reminded that everyone and everything are impermanent and eventually forgotten: "I am the grass; I cover all."

As in Chicago Poems, politicians, the wealthy, the upper classes, and other leaders of society come in for repeated harsh criticism. "Huntington" in 'Southern Pacific,' though dead in "a house six feet long," still blithely dreams of men addressing him as "Yes, sir." 'Palladiums' warns "Speak softly--the sacred cows may hear. Speak easy--the sacred cows must be fed." 'Profiteer' describes an honorary statue erected to "one who participated in the war vicariously and bought ten farms" with his spoils. Cornhuskers was written during World War I, and 'The Four Brothers' identifies the "four big brothers" of the title--France, Russia, Britain, and America--as "hunting death."

In the vision of Cornhuskers, man's meager hope arises from routine hard work, appreciation of the simple and the commonplace, and acceptance of the cycle of life. 'Caboose Thoughts' states "The sun, the birds, the grass - they know. They get along. We'll get along. It's going to come out all right - do you know?" Sandburg encourages the reader to "Look at six eggs in a mockingbird's nest...look at songs hidden in eggs," and to appreciate, as he has, boys running "barefoot in the leaves" and "farmhands with their faces in fried catfish on a Monday morning."

Throughout, Sandburg speaks in the loose, conversational folk tone that was the hallmark of his work. Most of the poems have only a very light structure and appear spontaneously written, so that 'Potato Blossom Songs and Jigs' features lines such as "The story lags. The story has no connections. The story is nothing but a lot of banjo plinka planka plunks." Cornhuskers can stand on its own, but works best when considered in immediate conjunction with later volumes Smoke And Steel (1920), Slabs of the Sunburnt West (1922), Good Morning, America (1928), and The People, Yes (1936), making The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg the ideal vehicle for expressing his increasingly unappreciated vision.

A triumph by one of Whitman's great heirs
"Cornhuskers," a volume of poetry by Carl Sandburg, was first published in 1918. This book demonstrates a poetic style and subject matter that are very much like that of 19th century giant Walt Whitman; is fact, Whitman is even mentioned in one of the poems in this book (specifically, "Interior").

Sandburg writes in a direct, vernacular language. He demonstrates an appreciation of the lands, people, and animals of the United States. He pays particular attention to working class life, industrialization, and ethnic diversity. A series of poems deal with American wars from the Revolutionary War to World War I. Throughout, Sandburg's voice is at times ironic, mystical, ecstatic, and/or tender.

There are a number of particularly memorable selections in "Cornhuskers." I loved "Wilderness," which begins "There is a wolf in me." "Prayers of Steel" uses remarkable erotic language to explore the use of steel in America's development. Another impressive poem is "Alix," about a champion racing mare.

Sandburg writes, "I speak of new cities and new people." In "Cornhuskers," he created one of the first great poetic testaments of the 20th century. ... Read more

Product Description
Alfred A. Knopf is proud to present the only collection of poems Carl Sandburg wrote specifically for children.  In 19 lively prose poems, America's quintessential poet invites children to think about the world in fresh new ways, playing tricks with familiar objects such as pencils, chairs, clocks, eyes, ears, and noses.  Witty graphic illustrations by the creator of ZOOM, RE-ZOOM, and REM add a playful dimension to the poems by integrating the words into the pictures or by interpreting the poetic images quite literally--to great comic effect. Simple yet provocative, this unique collection is an ideal tool for introducing poetry that does not rhyme and for inspiring creative writing.  It's a delight for the young and the young at heart.Amazon.com Review
Sixty years ago, Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)--America's unofficial poetlaureate, Pulitzer Prize winner, biographer, and historian--wrote a batchof children's poetry, but it wasn't until 1999 that Sandburg scholarsGeorge and Willene Hendrick found these 19 lively prose poems amidstthousands of yellowed manuscripts at the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign. In Poems for Children Nowhere Near Old Enough toVote we learn that "Eggs may speak to buttons--that is correct. / Buttons, however, must not speak to eggs." Sandburg, like most children,also enjoys musing on various body parts: "The nose is to breathe and tosmell with. / Eyes need two and ears need two but one nose / is enough if ithas two nostrils." In other poems, he revels in defining and exploringterms that we often use, letting his imagination wander through each word'spossibilities: "Stumbling is where you walk and find you are not walking." "Manners is when you know how to eat without being bashful." "Music iswhen your ears like what you hear." Familiar objects such as wheels,clocks, chairs, and pencils are all subject to Sandburg's simple, childlike"write-down-everything-this-makes-you-think-of" approach to poetry.

In the hands of the whimsical Istvan Banyai (of Zoom and Re-Zoom), Sandburg'spoems meet their visual match. Banyai's basic, black-and-white, pen-and-inkillustrations--combined with computer-generated stretched, condensed,curved, or diagonal type--enliven and enhance the poet's wordplay withequally inventive results. As Sandburg gleefully investigates the conceptof chair legs, Banyai shows a chair casually crossing its legs. As Sandburgpontificates on pencils ("Pencils too pointed break the points and / thenlaugh at you"), Banyai sketches the antics of a pencil-headed man (whodoesn't seem to enjoy the sharpening process). This unusual collection willno doubt encourage children to open their eyes to a nonliteral universe,and perhaps jumpstart an interest in creative writing. (That's right--poemsdon't have to rhyme!) (Ages 7 and older) --Karin Snelson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

"Very Good Condition" ?????? includes torn page?????
This is not so much a review of the book but rather a criticism of the condition of the book itself.

In the purchase order the book was designated as "in very good condition".

I was appalled to receive a book in "very poor condition" which included a torn page.

It would be helpful in the future to have a realistic evaluation of the condition of the book or that Amazon would describe the criteria used for "good", "very good", etc.

Thank you for the opportunity to voice my criticism and of course the disappointment is still felt.

Sincerely,
Paula Estorninho

Poetry for children of all ages
My favorite poem "Think about wheels" is simple yet profound -- "And in your head, in many little places behind Your blinking wonderful eyes, you can find, If you try, ten thousand wheels within wheels." Such poems are great for contemplation and for reading aloud to our children (I have a 4 year old)...

Great Introduction to Poetry
We purchased this book for our 3 year old and have found it to be absolutely charming. He enjoys several of the poems now, particularly the one about the egg and the button, and he will come to understand and appreciate others as he gets older. It is a wonderful book that a child can enjoy for many years. ... Read more

Product Description
Traces the life of the American poet, journalist, and historian whose lifelong interest in Abraham Lincoln led to the publishing of a multi-volume biography which won the Pulitzer Prize. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:SUBWAYDown between the walls of shadow Where the iron laws insist, The hunger voices mock. The worn wayfaring men With the hunched and humble shoulders, Throw their laughter into toil. THE SHOVEL MANOn the streetSlung on his shoulder is a handle half way across, Tied in a big knot on the scoop of cast iron Are the overalls faded from sun and rain in the ditches; Spatter of dry clay sticking yellow on his left sleeve And a flimsy shirt open at the throat, I know him for a shovel man, A dago working for a dollar six bits a day And a dark-eyed woman in the old country dreams of him for one of the world's ready men with a pair of fresh lips and a kiss better than all the wild grapes that ever grew in Tuscany.'A TEAMSTER'S FAREWELL Sobs En Route to a Penitentiary Good-by now to the streets and the clash of wheels andlocking hubs,The sun coming on the brass buckles and harness knobs, The muscles of the horses sliding under their heavyhaunches,Good-by now to the traffic policeman and his whistle, The smash of the iron hoof on the stones, All the crazy wonderful slamming roar of the street --O God, there's noises I'm going to be hungry for. FISH CRIERI Know a Jew fish crier down on Maxwell Street with a voice like a north wind blowing over corn stubble in January.He dangles herring before prospective customers evincing a joy identical with that of Pavlowa dancing.His face is that of a man terribly glad to be selling fish, terribly glad that God made fish, and customers to whom he may call his wares from a pushcart.PICNIC BOATSunday night and the park policemen tell each other it is dark as a stack of black cats on Lake Michigan.A big picnic boat comes home to Chicago from the peac... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Seller lied
Seller said used book was in very good condition.Arrived with scribbles and notes over each and every page making it unreadable.Seller also charged lots of money for the book.I'd never buy anything again from this seller and hope Amazon takes it off their list.

Review of the Dover Thrift 'Chicago Poems (et al.)'
Although the title suggests a volume dedicted entirely to poems about Chicago, this book actually contains the Chicago peoms accompanied by a few other collections.

While I found the poems very enjoyable, I did not care for this edition. Dover Thrift seems interested merely in presenting works in plain print, without any sort of introduction or notes on the writing. I would seek out a better edition of Sandburg's poems--one with footnotes or endnotes to explain political/historical allusions, personal pscyhological motives, etc.

A classic.
I love the Dover Trift Editions.They're a bit flimsy, but for the price, they can't be beat.Carl Sandburg's poems paint a colorful, often exiting, and always memoramble picture of city life at the turn of the century.These poems are simple, honest,and without a drop of pretention.This is a good read for anyone, not just poetry fanatics; but don't take my word for it, check it out at your local library.

I sing of Chicago glad and big The people 'Yes'
Sandburg is direct and strong and clear. This collection of poems first published in 1916 has as its signature poem "Chicago''. Chicago, the toolmaker, meat butcher, stacker of wheat the great brawler of the cities is at once Sandburg's home and posture to the world. Sandburg can also write tenderly as of the famous "Fog" that comes in on 'little cats feet' and with moving power of love ( Tell me in the grave, if the lovers are the losers) and war( Shovel them high at Ypres... I am the dust I cover them all) .
He is a poet of the American experience, the American street and its people . And he is like the beloved Lincoln he would write a long biography of, a man of the people whose poetry is truly for the people.
The People Yes.

The People, Yes
Sadly, Chicago Poems (1916), the author's first published work, is the book for which self-styled folk poet Carl Sandburg is best remembered today. The collection takes a hard and unswerving look at the grim realities of urban life for the common man, funneled through the flume of the author's committed socialist ideological perspective. Such an approach to poetry may have been somewhat novel in the America of the time, and both history and critics have been kind to Sandburg's sympathetic portraits of human suffering.

But whether he is addressing "a dago shovelman," an immigrant who has forgotten the dignified being his ancestors in Europe or who can no longer recognize "the new-mown hay smell calling on the wind," a street walker with "haggard poems and desperate eyes," or a young woman burned to death in a factory fire, Sandburg continually adopts the simplistic notion that the lower economic strata of society is always victimized but virtuous, while governmental institutions, bosses of all stripes, the professional classes, and the wealthy are uniformly cruel, oppressive, exploitive, and, at best, indifferent.

Thus, Chicago Poems reads like a 132-page polemic with a very narrow political point of view. While many of the author's observations are poignantly insightful (such as the poverty-stricken family of a dead boy in 'The Right To Grief,' who are "glad it is gone, for the rest of the family will now have more to eat and wear"), the poems, when read together, take on an oppressively unbalanced character of their own.

In 'A Fence,' for example, "the rabble and all vagabonds and hungry men and wandering children looking for a place to play" stand outside the gates of a newly constructed "stone house on the lake front" built by a wealthy man, who, the poet infers, can be nothing but immoral, amoral, or corrupt. In the author's Usher-esque vision, nothing will be able to pass through the gates to the property except "Death and the Rain and Tomorrow." And tomorrow, for such a corrupt individual or family, will inevitably bring nothing but waves of bad conscience and fevered isolation. 'Soiled Dove' examines the life of a woman who "was not a harlot until she married a corporation lawyer," but who automatically becomes one by acquiescing to such a marriage, and who soon discovers her husband also loves "six other women," as if marital infidelity was limited exclusively to the upper economic classes. In contrast, 'Happiness' is confidently represented as "a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with their women and children and a keg of beer and an accordion," an image which may seem simultaneously naïve, patronizing, and condescending to many readers.

Occasionally, Sandburg wisely acknowledges that some portion of the tragedies of man's existence are simply inherent in the natural human life cycle. "The hand of God" also comes in for blame in several poems.

Chicago Poems is most effective when Sandburg bypasses social divisionalism--as he often did in his later volumes of poetry--and simply addresses the everyman in the individual. While these poems are often infused with a lyrical and tender sentimentality slightly reminiscent of James Whitcomb Riley, they also locate and acknowledge the beautiful within the tragedies that perpetually arise from human frailty, vulnerability, and mortality. In 'Dream In The Dusk,' the author warns that "tears and loss and broken dreams may find your heart at dusk," while 'Under The Harvest Moon' identifies "Death" as "the gray mocker, [who] comes to you as a beautiful friend who remembers." 'I Sang' describes a lover who has given up his heart to "you and the moon," but "only the moon remembers, and is kind to me."

Other poems have the more pronounced folk character of Sandburg's later volumes. The speaker in 'Theme In Yellow' is the pumpkin, who celebrates the paganistic dance of children around him "on the last day of October...singing ghost songs and love to the harvest moon...I am the jack-o-lantern with terrible teeth and the children know I am fooling."

The most recent edition of The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (2003), which contains Chicago Poems in its entirety, is 832 pages long, and provides its readership with the full range of Sandburg's original and often gloriously rich and sensual vision of life. It also contains works like 'At The Gates of Tombs,' from Slabs of the Sunburnt West (1922), in which Sandburg, "the crazy wild dreamer," more fully and maturely developed his political vision. Comparatively, the reductive, often despairing Chicago Poems reads like the immaturely polarized work that it is.

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Product Description
With the publication of Chicago Poems in 1916, Carl Sandburg became one of the most famous poets in America: the voice of a midwestern literary revolt, fusing free-verse poetics with hard-edged journalistic observation and energetic, sometimes raucous protest. By the time his first book appeared, Sandburg had been many things--a farm hand, a soldier in the Spanish-American War, an active Socialist, a newspaper reporter and movie reviewer-and he was determined to write poetry that would explode the genteel conventions of contemporary verse. His poems are populated by factory workers, washerwomen, crooked politicians, hobos, vaudeville dancers, and battle-scarred radicals. Writing from the bottom up, bringing to his poetry the immediacy of America's streets and prairies, factories and jails, Sandburg forged a distinctive style at once lyrical and vernacular, by turns angry, gritty, funny, and tender. Paul Berman takes a fresh look at Sandburg's work and what it can tell us about 20th-century America in a volume that draws on such volumes as Cornhuskers, Smoke and Steel, and Slabs of the Sunburnt West. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

WONDERFUL LITTLE VOLUME.
Like other offerings in this series from the American Poets Project, this one hits the mark.Craig Matteson has already given us a wonderful reivew of this book here, so I will certainly not cover the same ground. From a personal point of view though, Sandburg has always been one of my favorite poets.I am rather a simple person and his style and subject matter fit my needs perfectly.As Matteson has pointed out, poetry must be read slowly and often to be truely enjoyed.Several of my favorites are published in this small volume, which includes "Billy Sunday," and "White Ash."It just does not get much better than that.I did enjoy the introduction by Paul Berman, the editor.He gives us a brief publishing history and discusses the Sanburg Pound link, which I found fascinating for some reason.All in all, this and other offerings from the American Poets Project are a good thing and well worth adding to your collection.We should all be grateful.

A fine selection by works of one of the great poets of the Midwest
Carl Sandburg had a long career that had a kind of kaleidoscopic transformation over its many decades.His best regarded poems come from the teens and twenties of the last century.His imagery was that of the Midwest with its plains, farms, and the booming industry and rising skyscrapers of Chicago.

Almost no one younger than fifty can remember how popular he was.He won a Pulitzer Prize for his final four volumes of the six volume biography of Lincoln in 1940.This massive biography is an apt example of Sandburg's changing career.The ordinary folks loved it, and once they did the sophisticates and scholars couldn't demean it enough, but this rejection came later.He won a second Pulitzer for his collected poems in "The Complete Poems" in 1951.The radio loved his old fashioned style of reading poetry almost as a song and later he added a guitar to his readings and was popular on TV.

His brand of American Nationalism grew less popular in the mid-1960s and after he died in mid-1967, the rabid anti-War movement rejected all such patriotism as a kind of jingoism that was not acceptable to the young.Sandburg's reputation faded from that time.He is still fondly remembered by many, but not a cultural icon as he once was.

In his younger years he was a socialist, such as American Socialism was in those early years of the last century.He helped organize workers, worked at socialist publications where many of his poems appeared.However, as the socialist movement became more radical, he did not go with them.The common man and woman with their ordinary lives of work, toil, hopes, suffering, entertainments, loves, violence, and their massive and anonymous contribution to our nation's wealth and social order were his focus and his muse.

This wonderful volume contains selections from those volumes focuses on those early decades.Some of the poems I find magical and they still retain much power."Skyscraper" (pg 19) seems one of the finer poems to me.Of course, there the famous - almost brand name - poems such as "Chicago" with its "Hog Butcher for the World" and "City of the Big Shoulders". And the not always well received "The People, Yes!"

He also has poems as a kind of epitaph for the famous of his day that had passed.You will probably need to search the web for the names to know who many of them were.Remember, when he wrote these poems, they were commenting on contemporary society.For us, it is a passed age.Nothing ages faster than the modern.A few of the poems are almost like haiku (I wonder if it was deliberate) and one sounds almost Nietzschean."The Hammer" from 1910 on pg 132 could have come from the pages of "Twilight of the Idols".

Poems take time to read, so even a slim volume such as this requires some time.Not because it is hard to read, or because you can't zip through it, but because poems require time to resonate.The whole point is less to tell you something from the outside as a technical manual would, but to use the words and images in the poem to resonate with what is in you.It is the resonance and the kinds of emotional harmonics it sounds out in you that create the music of the poem and from which it derives its power and worth to generations.Works of art, especially the great works, are really not available for people to judge them in terms of final worth.Rather, the works of art judge us by how we judge them.What we are able to find in ourselves as we engage the work helps us see what it is we have within us, or what we lack.

The volume begins with a fine essay on Sandburg by the editor, Paul Berman.Rather than compare Sandburg with Robert Frost (the two seem paired by fate and are often confused), he spends his time showing the connection and contrast between Sandburg and Ezra Pound.After the poems there is a short biographical note and a note on the text.

Recommended.This volume is yet another example of why we owe the great Library of America our support and gratitude. ... Read more

Product Description
Travel around the country with Carl Sandburg, a twentieth-century poet who has been called the voice of America. Hop aboard his poetry train on which each amazing poem leads to a different destination - some quiet and serene, others alive with zest and humour. More than 30 of his wonderful poems are presented here, along with specially commissioned illustrations that capture the spirit of his poetry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

ANOTHER ONE FOR YOUR CHILD'S LIBRARY - ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL
This is another addition to one of the best literary projects to come along in quite some time...Poetry for Young People.This particular work of course deals with the works of Carl Sandburg.It is illustrated by Steven Arcella.The book, as with the others in this series, starts with an introduction to the poet.This is good stuff alone.It is good to know something about the author of the work you are reading, and children, probably more so than adults, need this information.This volume includes Sandburg's Fog, From the Shore, Young Sea, Last Answers, A Sphinx, Little Girl.. Be Careful What You Say, Margaret, Arithmetic, Plowboy, Monotone, Phizzog, Mask, Summer Grass, Summer Stars, Sky Talk, October Paint, Old Woman, Buffalo Dust, a Coin and Doors.I certainly am not going to remark on the quality of Sandburg's work.Those who read him will be well aware of this.This collection though, is upbeat, delightful and gives a pretty good view of the poet's range.

The art work which accompanies the poems is very appealing and relaxing and very well executed.Like the poetry, it has a dream like quality and is a delight.

This is a book which is perfect to read to your child or to an entire class.Poetry has fallen out of fashion in many of our schools now, which is not only a shame, but I feel almost a crime.Our kids are missing so very, very much.This little edition is an ideal start. It, and the rest of this series, should be in ever school library, in every class room and indeed, on your kid's book shelf.I do highly recommend this one.

Don Blankenship

Carl Sundburgs (Poetry For Young People)
I love this book. It I so up beat and moving.I find this book moving far into the future of young peope and i hope to see it on my childs desk. ... Read more

Product Description
A redesigned issue of the beautifully told story of young Abe Lincoln, drawn from the early chapters of Carl Sandburg's original biography, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years.
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Customer Reviews (1)

A home-style, family book for everyone
If you enjoy history and want a clean read that will keep you hooked cover to cover than this is the book for you!I found this children's book a fun read that would be great for adults and kids alike if they are trying torekindle their innocent, free-spirit days as a child!It takes you fromAbe's youth to his adolescent and the history of his aduldhood.What agreat read! ... Read more

Product Description
Welcome to Rootabaga Country--where the railroad tracks go from straight to zigzag, where the pigs wear bibs, and where the Village of Cream Puffs floats in the wind. You'll meet baby balloon pickers, flummywisters, corn fairies, and blue foxes--and if you're not careful, you may never find your way back home!
These beautiful new editions retain the original illustrations by Maud and Miska Petersham, and feature gorgeous new jackets by acclaimed illustrator Kurt Cyrus. Carl Sandburg's irrepressible, zany, and completely original Rootabaga Stories and More Rootabaga Stories will stand alone on children's bookshelves--when they aren't in children's hands.
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Customer Reviews (13)

Oldie, but a goodie!
As a child, my twin sister and I were lulled to sleep by a parent reading these wonderful stories.So enthralled was I, I've remembered them into my dotage.I was delighted to find them still out there, and purchased them (and the beloved Uncle Wiggley Stories)for the children of a friend.Not sure how the present generation of children would relate to these old stories, I was delighted to find these children had become just as enthralled as I was!Some books are timeless, and these stories are among them.I think adults would love them too, if they missed them in their youth.

Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandburg
What an amazing imagination Carl Sandburg had...reaching into the hearts of children and even those of the little child within us all...a truly delight-full read...reads as if Mr. Sandburg himself is reading it to oneself!!!

Book isa bound photocopy.Cover Art is missing
Book is bound photocopy of a New York Public Library edition.It is lacking cover art.So yes, it is hadbound, but it is not an authetic printing of the original.

Interesting, but very strange
My wife and I love and highly recommend Carl Sandburg's other book "The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle".This is a picture book that is very funny, and was one of her favorite books growing up as a kid.

Rootabaga stories doesn't have any pictures, and is a bit strange.Don't get me wrong, the author is brilliant and the writing is interesting, but it wasn't a fun kid's book like we were expecting.

Great stories for children
A Sandburg classic - for children.Best read out loud.A collection of very short stories. A quick read.Fun.Non-sensical fantasy.Though a bit dated, it is amazing how relevant most of these stories still feel. ... Read more

Product Description
While Illinois did not segregate the races in public accommodations (as southern states did into the 1960s), public beaches in Chicago were clearly segregated. The most tragic result of this segregation was an incident that set off the 1919 Race Riot in Chicago, five days of rioting in which 23 African Americans and 15 whites were killed. On July 27, 1919 a black teenager named Eugene Williams and a few of his friends traveled to Lake Michigan to swim on a hot summer day. They took out a raft between the black beach at 29th street and the white beach at 26th street. A white man threw rocks at the raft, injuring Williams, who could not swim. A police officer at the 26th Street Beach was unwilling to either arrest the man or help Williams, who later died. Carl Sandburg, a reporter at the time for the Chicago Daily News, chronicled the ensuing race riot in The Chicago Race Riots.
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Product Description
The second volume of Carl Sandburg's beloved Rootabaga stories, this matching paperback edition contains the color and b&w illustrations of Maud and Miska Petersham. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Childhood Revisited
Not to be missed. "Rootabaga Stories" and "Rootabaga Pigeons" are the most wonderful, magical flights of imagination that could ever be put on the printed page. Forget digital animation! Get back to a good book!

Delight in Maud and Miska Petersham's illustrations! Yes, they are dated, but take in the detail - there is so very much animation in their illustrations, the characters (check out Blixie Bimber or the Potato Face)just jump off the pages - no need for Flash!!! ... Read more

Product Description
Hobo. Soldier. Reporter. Musician. Husband and father. Storyteller. Historian.
Carl Sandburg was all of these things. But he distinguished himself above all as the Poet of the People, a traveler and dreamer who carried poems, stories, and songs in his heart--and shared them with the many people he met in his travels. Seamlessly joining scenes from Sandburg's life, highlights from his poems and prose, and historically detailed illustrations, this thorough and thoughtful portrait turns biography into its own adventure.
A time line and notes about the illustrations supplement the text.
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Customer Reviews (2)

A beautiful book but more of a biography than poetry book
If you are introducing your child to Carl Sandburg you will like the short stories about his life. You should know, however, that each page is a different part of his life and only contains a little snippet of his poetry. I am glad I have this book, though, because of the quality of writing and the drawings kept my son's interest, along with the design and construction of the book is just beautiful to hold and look at.

Educators Recommend
In this biography of Carl Sandburg, Penelope Niven draws on her considerable knowledge of the poet to create a first-rate presentation. (Niven is the author of Carl Sandburg: A Biography as well as the founder and director the National Carl Sandburg Oral History Project.)

The book proceeds in chronological fashion. Each double-page section juxtaposes biographical information (on the left) with one of Sandburg's poems or a prose selection (on the right). This has the effect of making the poems and prose more personal, more meaningful. In the section titled "Soldier," for example, Niven discusses Sandburg's participation in the Spanish-American War. He and fellow soldiers had to wade "ashore in deep water, dressed in hot wool uniforms left over from the Civil War." On the facing page we read the poignant "New Feet":

Empty battlefields keep their phantoms.
Grass crawls over old gun wheels
And nodding Canada thistle flings a purple
Into the summer's southwest wind,

Wrapping a root in the rust of a bayonet,
Reaching a blossom in the rust of shrapnel.

Marc Nadel's watercolor-and-crosshatch illustrations are beautifully done, historically accurate, and the perfect compliment to Niven's text. According to the "Illustration Notes," Sandburg's personal possessions are featured in the artwork.

Carl Sandburg was a multifaceted individual: a journalist, a family man, a storyteller, an historian, and a dreamer. Niven does an extraordinary job of bringing to life America 's "Poet of the People."

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by the Education Oasis Staff ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

CARL SANDBURG--HONEY AND SALT
LIKE A SHARP KNIFE, THE POEMS THAT CARL SANDBURG CREATES IN THIS COLLECTION CUT STRAIGHT TO THE HEART OF WHAT HE WRITES ABOUT. HIS TAKE ON THE MANY ASPECTS OF LIFE ARE SPOT ON AND HIS WRITING CREATES A DEEP EMOTIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE AND LOVE. THIS COLLECTION SHOULD NOT BE MISSED AND SHOULD BE SHARED WITHONE YOU LOVE.

Great read.
People criticize Sandburg as being too literal and sappy.Read Honey and Salt. You may find as I did that it doesn't really matter.

Honey and Salt served on a silver platter!
Carl Sandburg's Honey and Salt is a perfect work of poetic mastery. Fromcover to cover the reader is engrossed in deep thoughts and clevermetaphors. This book is reccomended to anyone looking for a good read! ... Read more

Product Description
"It is because I love you I give you for your birthday present the aurora

borealis" begins this never-before-published poem by quintessential American

poet Carl Sandburg.The brief text,designed with the air of a

turn-of-the-century love letter, tells of a lovestruck young man who struggles

to bring the "shimmering swimmering" northern lights to the front porch of his

beloved.This stylish valentine for all seasons is luminously illustrated by

Caldecott Honor artist Anita Lobel who lights up the sky in colors and images

that dance on the page.In a style suggestive of Georgia O'Keeffe's, Lobel has

created a picturebook tour de force that speaks to all ages.Handsomely

formatted, complete with a pink satin ribbon bookmark, it is a beautiful

testimony to the power of love and an elegant way to say "I love you"

any day of the year.




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Customer Reviews (4)

Give it to somebody special--NOW!
A simple fable that perfectly captures the boundless potential of love.A perfect gift for that special someone.It WILL make all but the most heartless teary (but in a happy way).

Not Everyday a Book Like This
Right from the start this book is one of those that just feels good in the hand. A thin aesthetically pleasing little volume it has a red satin ribbon to mark your place and a brightly colored huge red heart invites you inside from the front cover. The text is a love poem by the great Carl Sandburg that has never before been published. The pictures are by Anita Lobel and they are filled with glad, warm-hearted images and colors.
A young man goes to "where the aurora borealises grow" and brings home a beautiful speciman for his true love's birthday. The enchanting swirls of color actually do quite well at depicting the essence of the aurora borealis and its mysterious, magical light show. I know, because the northern lights were swirling in the skies over my home just a few nights ago and Lobel captured the feeling just perfectly.
We follow the young man's struggle to find and bring the aurora borealis to his love and we believe that his feelings are so strong that he really can do anything for his love that he sets his heart on doing. He offers to bring her more aurora borealises or even a rainbow if she would like. This poetical man is letting her know that he will always work hard for her and struggle through life with her which is something a young woman may hope for, but this clever man has found a beautiful and romantic way to say it. His sensitivity to her need for beauty and abundance is the endearing point of the colorful promises he makes in this story.
I treasure this book and I think it makes a wonderful gift for anyone you love, especially yourself.

Pure and amazing.
I'm an avid reader of all sorts of novels.I'veread 'em with thousands of pages, but none of them have ever moved me as much as this little book did.Both the poem and the illustration have amagical, enchanting quality to them.Buy it foryourself or as a gift.It's well worth themoney.

The Most Beautiful Book I've ever read.
This book is so amazing that when i picked it up in the store and started reading it, i began to cry right there in the shop.i've never experienced that sort of thing in before.i bouth the book right there on the spotwith money i had ear-marked for something else.It is just a reallysimple, really beautiful poem about love with wonderful illustrations.Itmakes a beautiful present for a child or even a sweetheart. ... Read more