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The 15 Best Books on President Abraham Lincoln

Essential books on abraham lincoln.

There are countless books on Abraham Lincoln, and it comes with good reason, aside from being elected America’s sixteenth President (1861-1865), he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy and preserved the Union while serving as Commander-in-Chief amidst a brutal Civil War.

“Of our political revolution of ’76, we all are justly proud. It has given us a degree of political freedom, far exceeding that of any other nation of the earth,” Lincoln remarked. “In it the world has found a solution of the long mooted problem, as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind.”

In order to get to the bottom of what inspired one of history’s most consequential figures to the heights of societal contribution, we’ve compiled a list of the 15 best books on Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

Donald brilliantly depicts Lincoln’s gradual ascent from humble beginnings in rural Kentucky to the ever-expanding political circles in Illinois, and finally to the presidency of a country divided by civil war. Donald goes beyond biography, illuminating the gradual development of Lincoln’s character, chronicling his tremendous capacity for evolution and growth, thus illustrating what made it possible for a man so inexperienced and so unprepared for the presidency to become a great moral leader. In the most troubled of times, here was a man who led the country out of slavery and preserved a shattered Union – in short, one of the greatest presidents this country has ever seen.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry.

Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a character that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals. He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.

It was this capacity that enabled Lincoln as president to bring his disgruntled opponents together, create the most unusual cabinet in history, and marshal their talents to the task of preserving the Union and winning the war.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet. He overcomes these obstacles by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through.

This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln’s mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation’s history.

Lincoln at Gettysburg by Gary Wills

The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling demonstration than in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln was asked to memorialize the gruesome battle. Instead he gave the whole nation “a new birth of freedom” in the space of a mere 272 words. His entire life and previous training and his deep political experience went into this, his revolutionary masterpiece.

By examining both the address and Lincoln in their historical moment and cultural frame, Wills breathes new life into words we thought we knew, and reveals much about a president so mythologized but often misunderstood. Wills shows how Lincoln came to change the world and to effect an intellectual revolution, how his words had to and did complete the work of the guns, and how Lincoln wove a spell that has not yet been broken.

Lincoln’s Sword by Douglas L. Wilson

Widely considered in his own time as a genial but provincial lightweight who was out of place in the presidency, Abraham Lincoln astonished his allies and confounded his adversaries by producing a series of speeches and public letters so provocative that they helped revolutionize public opinion on such critical issues as civil liberties, the use of black soldiers, and the emancipation of slaves. This is a brilliant and unprecedented examination of how Lincoln used the power of words to not only build his political career but to keep the country united during the Civil War.

The Fiery Trial by Eric Foner

Selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the  New York Times Book Review , this landmark work gives us a definitive account of Lincoln’s lifelong engagement with the nation’s critical issue: American slavery. A master historian, Eric Foner draws Lincoln and the broader history of the period into perfect balance. We see Lincoln, a pragmatic politician grounded in principle, deftly navigating the dynamic politics of antislavery, secession, and civil war. Lincoln’s greatness emerges from his capacity for moral and political growth.

Lincoln on the Verge by Ted Widmer

As a divided nation plunges into the deepest crisis in its history, Abraham Lincoln boards a train for Washington and his inauguration – an inauguration Southerners have vowed to prevent. Lincoln on the Verge  charts these pivotal thirteen days of travel, as Lincoln discovers his power, speaks directly to the public, and sees his country up close.

Drawing on new research, this riveting account reveals the president-elect as a work in progress, showing him on the verge of greatness, as he foils an assassination attempt, forges an unbreakable bond with the American people, and overcomes formidable obstacles in order to take his oath of office.

A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White

Through meticulous research of the newly completed Lincoln Legal Papers, as well as of recently discovered letters and photographs, White provides a portrait of Lincoln’s personal, political, and moral evolution.

White shows us Lincoln as a man who would leave a trail of thoughts in his wake, jotting ideas on scraps of paper and filing them in his top hat or the bottom drawer of his desk; a country lawyer who asked questions in order to figure out his own thinking on an issue, as much as to argue the case; a hands-on commander in chief who, as soldiers and sailors watched in amazement, commandeered a boat and ordered an attack on Confederate shore batteries at the tip of the Virginia peninsula; a man who struggled with the immorality of slavery and as president acted publicly and privately to outlaw it forever; and finally, a president involved in a religious odyssey who wrote, for his own eyes only, a profound meditation on “the will of God” in the Civil War that would become the basis of his finest address.

Most enlightening, the man who comes into focus in this gem among books on Abraham Lincoln is a person of intellectual curiosity, comfortable with ambiguity, and unafraid to “think anew and act anew.”

Tried by War by James M. McPherson

As we celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, this study by preeminent, bestselling Civil War historian James M. McPherson provides a rare, fresh take on one of the most enigmatic figures in American history.  Tried by War offers a revelatory (and timely) portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. Suspenseful and inspiring, this is the story of how Lincoln, with almost no previous military experience before entering the White House, assumed the powers associated with the role of Commander in Chief, and through his strategic insight and will to fight changed the course of the war and saved the Union.

Honor’s Voice by Douglas L. Wilson

Abraham Lincoln’s remarkable emergence from the rural Midwest and his rise to the presidency have been the stuff of romance and legend. But as Douglas L. Wilson shows us in Honor’s Voice, Lincoln’s transformation was not one long triumphal march, but a process that was more than once seriously derailed. There were times, in his journey from storekeeper and mill operator to lawyer and member of the Illinois state legislature, when Lincoln lost his nerve and self-confidence – on at least two occasions he became so despondent as to appear suicidal – and when his acute emotional vulnerabilities were exposed.

Focusing on the crucial years between 1831 and 1842, Wilson’s skillful analysis of the testimonies and writings of Lincoln’s contemporaries reveals the individual behind the legends. We see Lincoln as a boy: not the dutiful son studying by firelight, but the stubborn rebel determined to make something of himself. We see him as a young man: not the ascendant statesman, but the canny local politician who was renowned for his talents in wrestling and storytelling (as well as for his extensive store of off-color jokes).

Wilson also reconstructs Lincoln’s frequently anguished personal life: his religious skepticism, recurrent bouts of depression, and difficult relationships with women – from Ann Rutledge to Mary Owens to Mary Todd.

Abraham Lincoln by Lord Charnwood

No other narrative account of Abraham Lincoln’s life has inspired such widespread and lasting acclaim as Charnwood’s  Abraham Lincoln: A Biography . Written by a native of England and originally published in 1916, the biography is a rare blend of beautiful prose and profound historical insight. Charnwood’s study of Lincoln’s statesmanship introduced generations of Americans to the life and politics of Lincoln and the author’s observations are so comprehensive and well-supported that any serious study of Lincoln must respond to his conclusions.

Lincoln’s Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Shenk

Giving shape to the deep depression that pervaded Lincoln’s adult life, Joshua Wolf Shenk’s Lincoln’s Melancholy reveals how this illness influenced both the president’s character and his leadership. Lincoln forged a hard path toward mental health from the time he was a young man. Shenk draws from historical records, interviews with Lincoln scholars, and contemporary research on depression to understand the nature of his unhappiness. In the process, he discovers that the President’s coping strategies; among them, a rich sense of humor and a tendency toward quiet reflection; ultimately helped him to lead the nation through its greatest turmoil.

Lincoln at Cooper Union by Harold Holzer

This favorite among books on Abraham Lincoln explores his most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address – an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln’s suitability for the presidency and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition to slavery to Republican progressives.

Award-winning Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer places Lincoln and his speech in the context of the times – an era of racism, politicized journalism, and public oratory as entertainment – and shows how the candidate framed the speech as an opportunity to continue his famous “debates” with his archrival Democrat Stephen A. Douglas on the question of slavery.

Holzer describes the enormous risk Lincoln took by appearing in New York, where he exposed himself to the country’s most critical audience and took on Republican Senator William Henry Seward of New York, the front runner, in his own backyard. Then he recounts a brilliant and innovative public relations campaign, as Lincoln took the speech “on the road” in his successful quest for the presidency.

Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years by Carl Sandberg

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 one of the definitive books on Abraham Lincoln.

We Are Lincoln Men by David Herbert Donald

Though Abraham Lincoln had hundreds of acquaintances and dozens of admirers, he had almost no intimate friends. Behind his mask of affability and endless stream of humorous anecdotes, he maintained an inviolate reserve that only a few were ever able to penetrate.

Professor Donald’s remarkable book offers a fresh way of looking at Abraham Lincoln, both as a man who needed friendship and as a leader who understood the importance of friendship in the management of men. Donald penetrates Lincoln’s mysterious reserve to offer a new picture of the president’s inner life and to explain his unsurpassed political skills.

The Lincolns: Portraits of a Marriage by Daniel Mark

Although the private lives of political couples have in our era become front-page news, the true story of this extraordinary and tragic first family has never been fully told.  The Lincolns  eclipses earlier accounts with riveting new information that makes husband and wife, president and first lady, come alive in all their proud accomplishments and earthy humanity.

Award-winning biographer and poet Daniel Mark Epstein gives a fresh close-up view of the couple’s life in Springfield, Illinois (of their twenty-two years of marriage, all but six were spent there), and dramatizes with stunning immediacy how the Lincolns’ ascent to the White House brought both dazzling power and the slow, secret unraveling of the couple’s unique bond.

If you enjoyed this guide to essential books on Abraham Lincoln, be sure to check out our list of The 10 Best Books on President George Washington !

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History Books » American History » Books on American Presidents

The best books on abraham lincoln, recommended by ted widmer.

He came from humble beginnings and never went to high school. Going into the presidency, he had limited political experience and lacked business, legislative and military achievements. The one thing he did not lack was a moral compass, says historian and author Ted Widmer . He picks the best books on the ups and downs and Shakespearean-style plot twists that were the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.

Interview by Eve Gerber

Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington by Ted Widmer

Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words by Douglas L Wilson

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America by Garry Wills

Emancipating Lincoln: The Proclamation in Text, Context, and Memory by Harold Holzer

They Knew Lincoln by John E Washington

1 Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington by Ted Widmer

2 lincoln's sword: the presidency and the power of words by douglas l wilson, 3 lincoln at gettysburg: the words that remade america by garry wills, 4 emancipating lincoln: the proclamation in text, context, and memory by harold holzer, 5 they knew lincoln by john e washington.

T here are more than 16,000 books about Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th president. You’ve agreed to choose the best reading about Old Abe and I insisted that we discuss your thrilling Lincoln on the Verge among the five. Before we hit the books, please introduce our international audience to Abraham Lincoln.

His surprising literary capacity, which few knew about when they voted for him, was key to the impact he had. As president, he delivered extraordinary public addresses that are Shakespearian in some ways and biblical in other ways.

He’s emotionally interesting. Abraham Lincoln has more highs and lows than perhaps any other president. He’s very strong, but vulnerable also. That makes him an attractive central figure for a history book. And he’s tragically struck down at the moment of his greatest triumph, immediately after winning the Civil War . That seems almost like a plot twist out of Shakespeare . So he continues to fascinate.

When Abraham Lincoln ran for president in 1860, his supporters highlighted his bootstraps biography. His rise from a log cabin in Kentucky to the White House is astonishing. What are those basic biographical facts?

Your riveting book, Lincoln on the Verge, focuses on Abraham Lincoln at the precipice of his presidency. Please tell us about the book and the importance of that period you write about.

It’s a story about Abraham Lincoln’s 13-day train trip to his inauguration. We tend to have a static image of Lincoln, posed in a photograph or standing stiffly in a daguerreotype. But he was a man of action. I wanted to show him moving.

Along his train trip to Washington, Lincoln is meeting thousands of people every day. He’s improving his ability to sway people with a speech. Trying to keep the country together was physical as well as intellectual work. He was shaking tens of thousands of hands to keep America from falling apart. It was a physical ordeal but one that he was well-qualified for. We don’t think of Abraham Lincoln as a young man, but he had just turned 52 and he was still vigorous.

“There’s so much to admire about Abraham Lincoln”

This journey also shows America in all of its different shadings. It’s a country that is different, not only between North and South, but between the northern, southern, western and eastern parts of individual states. Southern Ohio is really different from Northern Ohio. Pennsylvania is very diverse. Following Lincoln on this trip through America allows me to show the complexity of the country in the nineteenth century.

America is clearly complicated in 2021 too. Reading about the dramatic differences between nineteenth century Americans, from one region to the next, still resonates today.

One of the things that made the book so gripping for me is how efficiently and effectively you explained what a dangerous moment it was for America’s democracy. Can you encapsulate that aspect of the book?

That too felt resonant to me because of all the upheaval we passed through in 2020. Democracy was not working well in 1860, in DC and around the world. The federal government wasn’t very effective and the lame duck president, James Buchanan, was lame in every way. He was imbecilic in meetings. Southern slave interests had controlled the US government almost without exception since 1789. The vast majority of free people in this huge and complicated country did not want to be governed by slaveowners and their representatives in Washington.

In Congress, disagreements boiled over, resulting in abolitionist Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner nearly being paralyzed after he was brutally beaten by a South Carolinian congressman. Congress was not functioning. There was barely any compromise or negotiation.

1860 is really the end of an era. It’s the failure of the first chapter of American history . They tried a form of democracy from 1789 to 1860. When Lincoln was elected, half the country wouldn’t accept it and so they seceded. That was a sign of an inconsistent commitment to democracy on their part.

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Lincoln had gargantuan challenges. It was up to him to reunite the country. But if he won the war by just crushing the South in a bloodbath, he couldn’t have brought the country back together and it would have been far harder for the country to function as a democracy again. So, he wants to win by persuading all of the people that democracy is worth the gargantuan effort to preserve the union.

Around the world, people have their eye on the U.S. because democracy is failing all over. Germany’s 1848 revolution has failed. In France, likewise, a revolution in 1848 has failed. In Italy , popular uprisings were faltering. So, if American democracy had completely collapsed, it could’ve been the final nail in the coffin for democracy. If Lincoln had failed, democracy might have been seen as just another strange utopian movement.

One of your recommended books is about the strength that made Abraham Lincoln such an effective president. Tell us about Lincoln’s Sword by historian Douglas Wilson.

Douglas Wilson is a superb Lincoln scholar, based at Knox College in Illinois. He’s an extremely close reader of Lincoln. Lincoln’s words are very important because they are kind of scripture for Americans. Sometimes the words are hard to pin down because three or four people hearing a Lincoln speech might each write them down differently. Douglas Wilson meticulously verifies every word spoken and helps us to understand Lincoln’s writing process. With all of the most famous Lincoln speeches, Wilson tells us why the speech needed to be given, the process of writing the speech, and the various iterations of the speech. His intense literary focus is exciting. Every time I read Douglas Wilson’s work, I feel re-energized by Lincoln’s words.

According to Richard Norton Smith, Wilson “reconstructs the man by deconstructing his words.” What does Abraham Lincoln’s writing reveal about him?

That leads us to a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Garry Wills about one of Lincoln’s most powerful speeches, delivered in 1863 at the dedication of a cemetery for war dead. Tell us about Lincoln at Gettysburg.

It’s a wonderful book that concentrates all of the author’s formidable erudition on a single short speech. The Gettysburg Address is only 272 words. It probably took him three minutes to say. Wills makes the moment crackle with electricity. He explains how Lincoln wrote the address, on the way to Gettysburg. He deconstructs the speech itself and contextualizes it. All of American history was pivoting, in these three minutes, from a states-based way of thinking about our society to a nation-based way of thinking. In this speech, Lincoln re-dedicated the United States to citizenship for all of its people. Up until this point, African-Americans were largely excluded from citizenship. In this speech, Wills shows Lincoln is realigning the stars of our country to make us a federal union that is stronger than the states and dedicated to the rights of all of citizens, including African-Americans. It was a big step forward.

The phrase from those 272 words that has resounded ever since is “a new birth of freedom.” What does that phrase mean?

Next is Harold Holzer’s Emancipating Lincoln: The Proclamation in Text, Context and Memory . The Emancipation Proclamation declared that, as of New Year’s Day of 1863, enslaved people in the rebelling states would be free “thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

It’s hard for me to pick a single Harold Holzer book because there are so many, and they’re all so good. Emancipating Lincoln is very cogent and relatively short. Three chapters from three talks he gave at Harvard, about what made the Emancipation Proclamation such a remarkable document. The Emancipation Proclamation had more of an impact on policy and law than Lincoln’s speeches, which are far more familiar to students of history.

“His surprising literary capacity…was key to the impact he had”

And Holzer is also restoring how hard it was for Lincoln to do that. That is important because we sometimes take him for granted, or worse, take potshots at him. Recently statues of him have been torn down and his name has been stripped from public schools. It is possible to find imperfect things that were not racially sensitive to our pitch-perfect ears. But what Harold Holzer brilliantly demonstrated is that emancipation was politically difficult to achieve, and had a huge impact, as African-Americans, in particular, understood. It’s a beautiful small book that restores Lincoln to what was probably his most important role, the role of the emancipator, the man who ended slavery.

In his introduction, Holzer casts Emancipating Lincoln as a reply to “harsh revisionist scholarship” that stripped Lincoln of credit for abolition and “the new birth of freedom” he called for at Gettysburg. Revisionism, needless to say, is nothing new. One of the statues you’re referring to was across the river from me in Boston. The only text my middle schooler receives, in a social studies class focused on 1860 onwards, casts Lincoln as a cynical politician who was adamantly opposed to equal rights for Black Americans. How and why has Lincoln’s reputation risen and fallen in the 158 years since he signed the Emancipation Proclamation?

That statue was built after Lincoln died; he had nothing to do with it.  It’s troubling in many ways, the body language is wrong but, still, we should proceed cautiously, and listen to the voices of Lincoln’s time.

Finally, please tell me about the last Abraham Lincoln book on your list, John E. Washington’s They Knew Lincoln.

It’s a great book and an unusual book, first published in 1942 by an African American teacher who grew up in the shadow of the Capitol. The book was recently republished with an excellent introduction by historian Kate Masur. John E. Washington gathered a lot of fantastic oral history and documents to tell the untold story of the African Americans who knew Lincoln.

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Black Americans from many walks of life came into contact with Lincoln. There were African Americans working in the White House. He was friendly with a young man named William Johnson who worked in the Treasury Department. His barber back in Illinois, William De Fleurville, was born in Haiti and they knew one another well.  The stories in this book deepen our understanding of Lincoln and his presidency. It wasn’t just white men in blue uniforms; there were many African Americans playing important roles behind the scenes.

By reconstructing the lives of the African American people who knew Lincoln is Washington originating social history of the sort that became popular in the 1960s?

I’m sure we could find earlier examples of social history. For instance, there are really interesting books written about the experience of average soldiers in the American Revolution. But despite the efforts of historians like W.E.B. Dubois, there had not been enough work focused on the African Americans during the civil war. This book helps to fix that imbalance and shows how much Lincoln’s presidency depended on the aid he received from others in his extended household.

Last question: As you pointed out earlier, like the thirteen days you wrote about in Lincoln on the Verge , the United States just passed through a period between presidencies when democracy was under great strain. What lessons does Lincoln’s life offer about how the present president, Joe Biden , can deal with the divisions in America? What lessons does Lincoln’s life offer for all leaders?

There’s a great lesson to be learned from Lincoln’s efforts to speak to all Americans. Lincoln always takes pains to speak to the South.  He always was striving to “bind up the nation’s wounds,” as he said in the second inaugural. To survive, the United States needs presidents who are focused on the entire country, not just the party or interest groups that elect them. I’m encouraged that President Biden has been that way so far.

Lincoln also provides an example of action. Although he was a little slow coming out of the box, when the South attacked Fort Sumter, he responded with alacrity, raised the Northern Army and ramped up an overwhelming military response. While leading the war, he signed the Morrill Act in 1862, which expanded our public education system with land grant colleges. He signed the Homestead Act, which helped immigrants and ultimately freed slaves start new communities in the West. He helped the railroad and telegraph stretch across the country. He did not hesitate in using the powers of the presidency to act boldly and push actions through Congress that he believed would help Americans. That has also been true of Joe Biden to date.

So far, Biden’s combination of unifying rhetoric and focused action has been impressive and yes, Lincolnian.

February 12, 2021

Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]

Edward (Ted) Ladd Widmer is a historian, author and librarian who served as speechwriter in the Clinton White House. He is a professor at Macaulay Honors College, part of City University of New York.

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In a 24-hour, Internet-fueled news cycle, political campaign reporters often seem to be focused on what just happened, and only what just happened. But presidential candidates profess to take a longer view: They consciously link their critiques and promises to the influential figures and debates of the past.

In a new series, Morning Edition will take a fresh look at American political history, beginning with the figure who loomed over the 2008 and 2012 campaign — that tall, well-spoken senator from Illinois, often hailed for his significance in the history of American race relations. No, not President Obama. We're talking about Abraham Lincoln.

President Obama and presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum each have put forward their own narratives of the life of Lincoln, fine-tuned to their own political purposes. But their versions of Lincoln are just drops in a veritable ocean of books — almost 15,000, to be precise — that assay Lincoln's legacy.

Where should a reader begin? Perhaps the most well-known biography is Lincoln , by the late historian David Herbert Donald. Eric Foner, a professor of history at Columbia University and author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery , recommends Donald's book as the best one-volume account of Lincoln's life.

"[Donald] avoided the two pitfalls that people fall into. One is just hagiography — you know, [Lincoln] was born with a pen in his hand ready to sign the Emancipation Proclamation; and the other is the opposite, of course — [he was] just a racist or didn't really care about slavery at all. Donald sort of navigates between them," Foner says.

David Herbert Donald was an American historian who specialized in the Civil War and Reconstruction. David Schaefer/Courtesy of Simon & Schuster hide caption

David Herbert Donald was an American historian who specialized in the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Foner notes, however, that the book is not without its flaws — notably that Donald's portrayal of Lincoln may have been influenced by current events in the mid-'90s, particularly by President Clinton.

"[Donald] sort of sees Lincoln as a person without any deep convictions," Foner says. "I think he sort of saw Lincoln as a Clinton figure — buffeted by events, not clear what he stood for. I don't think that's a very persuasive picture of Lincoln."

Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian and author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln , recommends a book that shows how Lincoln prevailed under pressure during the Civil War: Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson.

"He is such a narrative genius, McPherson ... what he's done is to mix together the battles, Lincoln's leadership, the home front, the finances, the Cabinet, all together, but it drives forward as a story, and you don't know until finally, perhaps, Atlanta, whether the North is really going to win this war," Goodwin says.

Lincoln's strategically brilliant decisions were gambles at the time, she says.

"We know the ending — we know that he was martyred, we know that the war was won. But the people living then certainly didn't know that, and I think that's what McPherson's pace allows us to see," Goodwin says.

Battle Cry Of Freedom

But Lincoln's political persona is but one dimension of the man. Andy Ferguson, senior editor of The Weekly Standard and author of Land of Lincoln , recommends an out of print book, In the Footsteps of the Lincolns . The book's author, Ida Tarbell, the iconic muckraking journalist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, exposes Lincoln's roots in the frontier culture of the Midwest.

Ferguson says Tarbell was obsessed with Lincoln throughout her life. "After World War I, she went and sort of fulfilled a part of her obsession that she had always wanted to, which was to retrace Lincoln's movements with his family since he was a little boy, from Kentucky to Indiana and into Illinois. And as she did this, there were still people alive who knew the Lincolns. It's a part of time that we can't really get access to any other way," Ferguson says.

In the days when Lincoln was growing up, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois were remote areas struggling to develop. "It was just a couple of steps up from the Bronze Age, really," Ferguson says.

But rather than embracing his hardscrabble background, Foner says, Lincoln distanced himself from frontier culture.

"He doesn't like hunting, he's not a violent person, he doesn't hate Indians, he doesn't drink . And he understands very early — and where this comes from, who knows — that the way to get ahead is through your mind, not through just hard physical labor, which is what his father does. [Lincoln] gets as far away from the frontier as he can, pretty early," Foner says.

As often as political candidates today employ Lincoln's name for their own purposes, there are certain aspects to Lincoln that modern-day candidates won't adopt. For instance, Foner says he would love to see a political candidate of any party forthrightly say, "I have changed my mind," because that's what Lincoln did over and over again during the Civil War.

James M. McPherson is a professor emeritus of history at Princeton University. Patricia McPherson hide caption

James M. McPherson is a professor emeritus of history at Princeton University.

"Lincoln was a flip-flopper, if you want to use the terminology of modern politics. We don't seem to allow our politicians to do that anymore," Foner says.

Ferguson says that even when politicians do change their minds, political speechwriters are tasked with making it seem like the politician's views remained consistent.

Goodwin adds that she would like to see politicians emulate Lincoln's sense of humor. She tells a story about a time when Lincoln was accused of being two-faced, and he replied, "If I had two faces, do you think I'd be wearing this face?"

"That ability to laugh at yourself, to look at yourself from the outside in, means a certain kind of confidence — means taking the world seriously, but not taking yourself so seriously at every moment. It is in such short supply in our campaigns," Goodwin says.

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The 20 Best Books about Abraham Lincoln

It’s not easy to narrow down the list of 16,000 books about Lincoln to just twenty, but we tried. Get to know more about the 16 th US president, and see for yourself why the man is so revered by many. This list of the 20 best books about Abraham Lincoln will give you a good dose of rich history, valuable facts, and interesting info that will surely satisfy the history buff in you.

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Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

“On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a character that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals. He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.”

Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Leadership tells the story of how they all collided (Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson) with dramatic reversals that disrupted their lives and threatened to shatter forever their ambitions. Nonetheless, they all emerged fitted to confront the contours and dilemmas of their times. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others. Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader?”

The President and the Freedom Fighter: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Their Battle to Save America’s Soul by Brian Kilmeade

“Abraham Lincoln was White, born impoverished on a frontier farm. Frederick Douglass was Black, a child of slavery who had risked his life escaping to freedom in the North. Neither man had a formal education, and neither had had an easy path to influence. No one would have expected them to become friends—or to transform the country. But Lincoln and Douglass believed in their nation’s greatness. They were determined to make the grand democratic experiment live up to its ideals.”

The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President – and Why It Failed by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

“The conspirators were part of a white supremacist secret society that didn’t want an abolitionist in the White House. They planned an elaborate scheme to assassinate the President-elect in Baltimore as Lincoln’s inauguration train passed through, en route to the nation’s capital. The plot was investigated by famed detective Allan Pinkerton, who infiltrated the group with undercover agents, including Kate Warne, one of the first female private detectives in America.”

Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times by Donald T. Phillips

“Only ten days before Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office in 1861, the Confederate States of America seceded from the Union, taking all Federal agencies, forts, and arenas within their territory. To make matters worse, Lincoln, who was elected by a minority of the popular vote, was thought of by his own advisors as nothing more than a gawky second-rate country lawyer with no leadership experience.”

Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington by Ted Widmer

“As a divided nation plunges into the deepest crisis in its history, Abraham Lincoln boards a train for Washington and his inauguration—an inauguration Southerners have vowed to prevent. Lincoln on the Verge charts these pivotal thirteen days of travel, as Lincoln discovers his power, speaks directly to the public, and sees his country up close. Drawing on new research, this riveting account reveals the president-elect as a work in progress, showing him on the verge of greatness, as he foils an assassination attempt, forges an unbreakable bond with the American people, and overcomes formidable obstacles in order to take his oath of office.”

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

“Donald brilliantly depicts Lincoln’s gradual ascent from humble beginnings in rural Kentucky to the ever-expanding political circles in Illinois, and finally to the presidency of a country divided by civil war. Donald goes beyond biography, illuminating the gradual development of Lincoln’s character, chronicling his tremendous capacity for evolution and growth, thus illustrating what made it possible for a man so inexperienced and so unprepared for the presidency to become a great moral leader. In the most troubled of times, here was a man who led the country out of slavery and preserved a shattered Union—in short, one of the greatest presidents this country has ever seen.”

A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White

“Through meticulous research of the newly completed Lincoln Legal Papers, as well as of recently discovered letters and photographs, White provides a portrait of Lincoln’s personal, political, and moral evolution. White shows us Lincoln as a man who would leave a trail of thoughts in his wake, jotting ideas on scraps of paper and filing them in his top hat or the bottom drawer of his desk; a country lawyer who asked questions in order to figure out his own thinking on an issue, as much as to argue the case; a hands-on commander in chief who, as soldiers and sailors watched in amazement, commandeered a boat and ordered an attack on Confederate shore batteries at the tip of the Virginia peninsula; a man who struggled with the immorality of slavery and as president acted publicly and privately to outlaw it forever; and finally, a president involved in a religious odyssey who wrote, for his own eyes only, a profound meditation on “the will of God” in the Civil War that would become the basis of his finest address.”

Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times by David S. Reynolds

“It was a country growing up and being pulled apart at the same time, with a democratic popular culture that reflected the country’s contradictions. Lincoln’s lineage was considered auspicious by Emerson, Whitman, and others who prophesied that a new man from the West would emerge to balance North and South. From New England Puritan stock on his father’s side and Virginia Cavalier gentry on his mother’s, Lincoln was linked by blood to the central conflict of the age. And an enduring theme of his life, Reynolds shows, was his genius for striking a balance between opposing forces. Lacking formal schooling but with an unquenchable thirst for self-improvement, Lincoln had a talent for wrestling and bawdy jokes that made him popular with his peers, even as his appetite for poetry and prodigious gifts for memorization set him apart from them through his childhood, his years as a lawyer, and his entrance into politics.”

The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Book of Quotations by Abraham Lincoln and Bob Blaisdell

“The most eloquent of American presidents, Lincoln seemed to have a comment — sagacious or humorous — on just about anything that mattered. This concise compendium offers his astute observations on a variety of subjects—from women to warfare.”

Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk

“Giving shape to the deep depression that pervaded the sixteenth president’s adult life, Joshua Wolf Shenk’s Lincoln’s Melancholy reveals how this illness influenced both the president’s character and his leadership. Lincoln forged a hard path toward mental health from the time he was a young man. Shenk draws from historical record, interviews with Lincoln scholars, and contemporary research on depression to understand the nature of his unhappiness. In the process, he discovers that the President’s coping strategies — among them, a rich sense of humor and a tendency toward quiet reflection — ultimately helped him to lead the nation through its greatest turmoil.”

With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B. Oates

“Oates masterfully charts, with the pacing of a novel, Lincoln’s rise from bitter poverty in America’s midwestern frontier to become a self-made success in business, law, and regional politics. The second half of this riveting work examines his legendary leadership on the national stage as president during one of the country’s most tumultuous and bloody periods, the Civil War years, which concluded tragically with Lincoln’s assassination.”

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner

“Selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, this landmark work gives us a definitive account of Lincoln’s lifelong engagement with the nation’s critical issue: American slavery. A master historian, Eric Foner draws Lincoln and the broader history of the period into perfect balance. We see Lincoln, a pragmatic politician grounded in principle, deftly navigating the dynamic politics of antislavery, secession, and civil war. Lincoln’s greatness emerges from his capacity for moral and political growth.”

Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln by Edward Achorn

“Edward Achorn reveals the nation’s capital on that momentous day―with its mud, sewage, and saloons, its prostitutes, spies, reporters, social-climbing spouses and power-hungry politicians―as a microcosm of all the opposing forces that had driven the country apart. A host of characters, unknown and famous, had converged on Washington―from grievously wounded Union colonel Selden Connor in a Washington hospital and the embarrassingly drunk new vice president, Andrew Johnson, to poet-journalist Walt Whitman; from soldiers’ advocate Clara Barton and African American leader and Lincoln critic-turned-admirer Frederick Douglass (who called the speech “a sacred effort”) to conflicted actor John Wilkes Booth―all swirling around the complex figure of Lincoln.”

Lincoln and the Fight for Peace by John Avlon

“The power of Lincoln’s personal example in the closing days of the war offers a portrait of a peacemaker. He did not demonize people he disagreed with. He used humor, logic, and scripture to depolarize bitter debates. Balancing moral courage with moderation, Lincoln believed that decency could be the most practical form of politics, but he understood that people were more inclined to listen to reason when greeted from a position of strength. Ulysses S. Grant’s famously generous terms of surrender to General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox that April were an expression of a president’s belief that a soft peace should follow a hard war.”

The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution by James Oakes

“Lincoln adopted the antislavery view that the Constitution made freedom the rule in the United States, slavery the exception. Where federal power prevailed, so did freedom. Where state power prevailed, that state determined the status of slavery, and the federal government could not interfere. It would take state action to achieve the final abolition of American slavery. With this understanding, Lincoln and his antislavery allies used every tool available to undermine the institution. Wherever the Constitution empowered direct federal action―in the western territories, in the District of Columbia, over the slave trade―they intervened. As a congressman in 1849 Lincoln sponsored a bill to abolish slavery in Washington, DC. He reentered politics in 1854 to oppose what he considered the unconstitutional opening of the territories to slavery by the Kansas–Nebraska Act. He attempted to persuade states to abolish slavery by supporting gradual abolition with compensation for slaveholders and the colonization of free Blacks abroad.”

Lincoln in Private: What His Most Personal Reflections Tell Us About Our Greatest President by Ronald C. White

“Now, renowned Lincoln historian Ronald C. White walks readers through twelve of Lincoln’s most important private notes, showcasing our greatest president’s brilliance and empathy, but also his very human anxieties and ambitions. We look over Lincoln’s shoulder as he grapples with the problem of slavery, attempting to find convincing rebuttals to those who supported the evil institution (“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”); prepares for his historic debates with Stephen Douglas; expresses his private feelings after a defeated bid for a Senate seat (“With me, the race of ambition has been a failure—a flat failure”); voices his concerns about the new Republican Party’s long-term prospects; develops an argument for national unity amidst a secession crisis that would ultimately rend the nation in two; and, for a president many have viewed as not religious, develops a sophisticated theological reflection in the midst of the Civil War (“it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party”). Additionally, in a historic first, all 111 Lincoln notes are transcribed in the appendix, a gift to scholars and Lincoln buffs alike.”

A Self-Made Man: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln by Sidney Blumenthal

“The first of a multivolume history of Lincoln as a political genius – from his obscure beginnings to his presidency, his assassination, and the overthrow of his post-Civil War dreams of Reconstruction. This first volume traces Lincoln from his painful youth, describing himself as “a slave”, to his emergence as the man we recognize as Abraham Lincoln.”

Lincoln’s Mentors: The Education of a Leader by Michael J. Gerhardt

“As Michael J. Gerhardt reveals, Lincoln’s reemergence followed the same path he had taken before, in which he read voraciously and learned from the successes, failures, oratory, and political maneuvering of a surprisingly diverse handful of men, some of whom he had never met but others of whom he knew intimately—Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, John Todd Stuart, and Orville Browning. From their experiences and his own, Lincoln learned valuable lessons on leadership, mastering party politics, campaigning, conventions, understanding and using executive power, managing a cabinet, speechwriting and oratory, and—what would become his most enduring legacy—developing policies and rhetoric to match a constitutional vision that spoke to the monumental challenges of his time.”

Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War by Tom Wheeler

“Abraham Lincoln’s two great legacies to history—his extraordinary power as a writer and his leadership during the Civil War—come together in this close study of the President’s use of the telegraph. Invented less than two decades before he entered office, the telegraph came into its own during the Civil War. In a jewel–box of historical writing, Wheeler captures Lincoln as he adapted his folksy rhetorical style to the telegraph, creating an intimate bond with his generals that would ultimately help win the war.”

For further reading about Abraham Lincoln, here are a few more that are worth checking out:

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson

“The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history–the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry troops on a wild, 12-day chase from the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness.”

Lincoln and the Irish: The Untold Story of How the Irish Helped Abraham Lincoln Save the Union by Niall O’Dowd

“When he was voted into the White House, Lincoln surrounded himself with Irish staff, much to the chagrin of a senior aide who complained about the Hibernian cabal. And the Irish would repay Lincoln’s faith—their numbers and courage would help swing the Civil War in his favor, and among them would be some of his best generals and staunchest advocates.”

Lincoln’s Battle with God: A President’s Struggle with Faith and What It Meant for America by Stephen Mansfield

“Abraham Lincoln is the most beloved of all U.S. presidents. He freed the slaves, gave the world some of its most beautiful phrases, and redefined the meaning of America. He did all of this with wisdom, compassion, and wit. Yet, throughout his life, Lincoln fought with God. In his early years in Illinois, he rejected even the existence of God and became the village atheist. In time, this changed but still he wrestled with the truth of the Bible, preachers, doctrines, the will of God, the providence of God, and then, finally, God’s purposes in the Civil War. Still, on the day he was shot, Lincoln said he longed to go to Jerusalem to walk in the Savior’s steps.”

Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War by Roger Lowenstein

“Roger Lowenstein reveals the largely untold story of how Lincoln used the urgency of the Civil War to transform a union of states into a nation. Through a financial lens, he explores how this second American revolution, led by Lincoln, his cabinet, and a Congress studded with towering statesmen, changed the direction of the country and established a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Abraham Lincoln and Mexico: A History of Courage, Intrigue and Unlikely Friendships by Michael Hogan

“This book by a noted Ph.D. historian is one of the best books available about historical relations between the United States and Mexico. It shines new light on reasons for the US invasion of Mexico in 1846, opposition by Abraham Lincoln and other politicians to the unjustified and unconstitutional decision by President Polk to go to war, the importance of the ensuing war against Mexico, the resulting territorial seizures by the United States, the impact both nationally and internationally to both countries, the troubling legacy even today, and the result of silences that have been pervasive over the years regarding this conflict. It examines all aspects of this history based on actual documents in government, university, and private institutions in both the US and Mexico, including citations to these documents and the complete text for many of them in the Appendix.”

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And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle Hardcover – October 18, 2022

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• Print length 720 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Random House
• Publication date October 18, 2022
• Dimensions 6.42 x 1.48 x 9.55 inches
• ISBN-10 0553393960
• ISBN-13 978-0553393965
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House; First Edition (October 18, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 720 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553393960
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553393965
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.34 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.42 x 1.48 x 9.55 inches
• #9 in American Civil War Biographies (Books)
• #12 in United States Executive Government
• #21 in US Presidents

About the author

Jon meacham.

Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer. The author of the New York Times bestsellers Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, Franklin and Winston, and Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, he is a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University, a contributing writer for The New York Times Book Review, and a fellow of the Society of American Historians. Meacham lives in Nashville with his wife and children.

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Ten Best Abraham Lincoln Biographies

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of Abraham Lincoln books ? Don’t know where to start ?

10. honor’s voice: the transformation of abraham lincoln by douglas wilson.

This Lincoln biography explores the early years of Lincoln’s political career. “As Douglas L. Wilson shows us in Honor’s Voice, Lincoln’s transformation was not one long triumphal march, but a process that was more than once seriously derailed.”

*** What is your favorite Abraham Lincoln biography ?

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C. Christopher Smith

C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books . He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com

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Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union during the American Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved people.

Quick Facts

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Abraham Lincoln was the 16 th president of the United States , serving from 1861 to 1865, and is regarded as one of America’s greatest heroes due to his roles in guiding the Union through the Civil War and working to emancipate enslaved people. His eloquent support of democracy and insistence that the Union was worth saving embody the ideals of self-government that all nations strive to achieve. In 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves across the Confederacy. Lincoln’s rise from humble beginnings to achieving the highest office in the land is a remarkable story, and his death is equally notably. He was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865, at age 56, as the country was slowly beginning to reunify following the war. Lincoln’s distinctively humane personality and incredible impact on the nation have endowed him with an enduring legacy.

FULL NAME: Abraham Lincoln BORN: February 12, 1809 DIED: April 15, 1865 BIRTHPLACE: Hodgenville, Kentucky SPOUSE: Mary Todd Lincoln (m. 1842) CHILDREN: Robert Todd Lincoln , Edward Baker Lincoln, William Wallace Lincoln, and Thomas “Tad” Lincoln ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aquarius HEIGHT: 6 feet 4 inches

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to parents Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln in rural Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Thomas was a strong and determined pioneer who found a moderate level of prosperity and was well respected in the community. The couple had two other children: Lincoln’s older sister, Sarah, and younger brother, Thomas, who died in infancy. His death wasn’t the only tragedy the family would endure.

In 1817, the Lincolns were forced to move from young Abraham’s Kentucky birthplace to Perry County, Indiana, due to a land dispute. In Indiana, the family “squatted” on public land to scrap out a living in a crude shelter, hunting game and farming a small plot. Lincoln’s father was eventually able to buy the land.

When Lincoln was 9 years old, his 34-year-old mother died of tremetol, more commonly known as milk sickness, on October 5, 1818. The event was devastating to the young boy, who grew more alienated from his father and quietly resented the hard work placed on him at an early age.

In December 1819, just over a year after his mother’s death, Lincoln’s father Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a Kentucky widow with three children of her own. She was a strong and affectionate woman with whom Lincoln quickly bonded.

Although both his parents were most likely illiterate, Thomas’ new wife Sarah encouraged Lincoln to read. It was while growing into manhood that Lincoln received his formal education—an estimated total of 18 months—a few days or weeks at a time.

Reading material was in short supply in the Indiana wilderness. Neighbors recalled how Lincoln would walk for miles to borrow a book. He undoubtedly read the family Bible and probably other popular books at that time such as Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim’s Progres s, and Aesop’s Fable s.

In March 1830, the family again migrated, this time to Macon County, Illinois. When his father moved the family again to Coles County, 22-year-old Lincoln struck out on his own, making a living in manual labor.

Lincoln was 6 feet 4 inches tall, rawboned and lanky yet muscular and physically strong. He spoke with a backwoods twang and walked with a long-striding gait. He was known for his skill in wielding an ax and early on made a living splitting wood for fire and rail fencing.

Young Lincoln eventually migrated to the small community of New Salem, Illinois, where over a period of years he worked as a shopkeeper, postmaster, and eventually general store owner. It was through working with the public that Lincoln acquired social skills and honed a storytelling talent that made him popular with the locals.

Not surprising given his imposing frame, Lincoln was an excellent wrestler and had only one recorded loss—to Hank Thompson in 1832—over a span of 12 years. A shopkeeper who employed Lincoln in New Salem, Illinois, reportedly arranged bouts for him as a way to promote the business. Lincoln notably beat a local champion named Jack Armstrong and became somewhat of a hero. (The National Wrestling Hall of Fame posthumously gave Lincoln its Outstanding American Award in 1992.)

When the Black Hawk War broke out in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans, the volunteers in the area elected Lincoln to be their captain. He saw no combat during this time, save for “a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes,” but was able to make several important political connections.

As he was starting his political career in the early 1830s, Lincoln decided to become a lawyer. He taught himself the law by reading William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England . After being admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois, and began to practice in the John T. Stuart law firm.

In 1844, Lincoln partnered with William Herndon in the practice of law. Although the two had different jurisprudent styles, they developed a close professional and personal relationship.

Lincoln made a good living in his early years as a lawyer but found that Springfield alone didn’t offer enough work. So to supplement his income, he followed the court as it made its rounds on the circuit to the various county seats in Illinois.

On November 4, 1842, Lincoln wed Mary Todd , a high-spirited, well-educated woman from a distinguished Kentucky family. Although they were married until Lincoln’s death, their relationship had a history of instability.

When the couple became engaged in 1840, many of their friends and family couldn’t understand Mary’s attraction; at times, Lincoln questioned it himself. In 1841, the engagement was suddenly broken off, most likely at Lincoln’s initiative. Mary and Lincoln met later at a social function and eventually did get married.

The couple had four sons— Robert Todd , Edward Baker, William Wallace, and Thomas “Tad”—of whom only Robert survived to adulthood.

Before marrying Todd, Lincoln was involved with other potential matches. Around 1837, he purportedly met and became romantically involved with Anne Rutledge. Before they had a chance to be engaged, a wave of typhoid fever came over New Salem, and Anne died at age 22.

Her death was said to have left Lincoln severely depressed. However, several historians disagree on the extent of Lincoln’s relationship with Rutledge, and his level of sorrow at her death might be more the makings of legend.

About a year after the death of Rutledge, Lincoln courted Mary Owens. The two saw each other for a few months, and marriage was considered. But in time, Lincoln called off the match.

In 1834, Lincoln began his political career and was elected to the Illinois state legislature as a member of the Whig Party . More than a decade later, from 1847 to 1849, he served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives. His foray into national politics seemed to be as unremarkable as it was brief. He was the lone Whig from Illinois, showing party loyalty but finding few political allies.

As a congressman, Lincoln used his term in office to speak out against the Mexican-American War and supported Zachary Taylor for president in 1848. His criticism of the war made him unpopular back home, and he decided not to run for second term. Instead, he returned to Springfield to practice law.

By the 1850s, the railroad industry was moving west, and Illinois found itself becoming a major hub for various companies. Lincoln served as a lobbyist for the Illinois Central Railroad as its company attorney.

Success in several court cases brought other business clients as well, including banks, insurance companies, and manufacturing firms. Lincoln also worked in some criminal trials.

In one case, a witness claimed that he could identify Lincoln’s client who was accused of murder, because of the intense light from a full moon. Lincoln referred to an almanac and proved that the night in question had been too dark for the witness to see anything clearly. His client was acquitted.

As a member of the Illinois state legislature, Lincoln supported the Whig politics of government-sponsored infrastructure and protective tariffs. This political understanding led him to formulate his early views on slavery, not so much as a moral wrong, but as an impediment to economic development.

In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act , which repealed the Missouri Compromise , allowing individual states and territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. The law provoked violent opposition in Kansas and Illinois, and it gave rise to today’s Republican Party .

This awakened Lincoln’s political zeal once again, and his views on slavery moved more toward moral indignation. Lincoln joined the Republican Party in 1856.

In 1857, the Supreme Court issued its controversial Dred Scott decision, declaring Black people were not citizens and had no inherent rights. Although Lincoln felt Black people weren’t equal to whites, he believed America’s founders intended that all men were created with certain inalienable rights.

Lincoln decided to challenge sitting U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas for his seat. In his nomination acceptance speech, he criticized Douglas, the Supreme Court , and President James Buchanan for promoting slavery then declared “a house divided cannot stand.”

During Lincoln’s 1858 U.S. Senate campaign against Douglas, he participated in seven debates held in different cities across Illinois. The two candidates didn’t disappoint, giving stirring debates on issues such as states’ rights and western expansion. But the central issue was slavery.

Newspapers intensely covered the debates, often times with partisan commentary. In the end, the state legislature elected Douglas, but the exposure vaulted Lincoln into national politics.

With his newly enhanced political profile, in 1860, political operatives in Illinois organized a campaign to support Lincoln for the presidency. On May 18, at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Lincoln surpassed better-known candidates such as William Seward of New York and Salmon P. Chase of Ohio. Lincoln’s nomination was due, in part, to his moderate views on slavery, his support for improving the national infrastructure, and the protective tariff.

In the November 1860 general election, Lincoln faced his friend and rival Stephen Douglas, this time besting him in a four-way race that included John C. Breckinridge of the Northern Democrats and John Bell of the Constitution Party. Lincoln received not quite 40 percent of the popular vote but carried 180 of 303 Electoral College votes, thus winning the U.S. presidency. He grew his trademark beard after his election.

Lincoln’s Cabinet

Following his election to the presidency in 1860, Lincoln selected a strong cabinet composed of many of his political rivals, including William Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Edwin Stanton.

Formed out the adage “Hold your friends close and your enemies closer,” Lincoln’s cabinet became one of his strongest assets in his first term in office, and he would need them as the clouds of war gathered over the nation the following year.

Before Lincoln’s inauguration in March 1861, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union, and by April, the U.S. military installation Fort Sumter was under siege in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. In the early morning hours of April 12, 1861, the guns stationed to protect the harbor blazed toward the fort, signaling the start of the U.S. Civil War , America’s costliest and bloodiest war.

The newly President Lincoln responded to the crisis wielding powers as no other president before him: He distributed $2 million from the Treasury for war material without an appropriation from Congress; he called for 75,000 volunteers into military service without a declaration of war; and he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, allowing for the arrest and imprisonment of suspected Confederate States sympathizers without a warrant.

Crushing the rebellion would be difficult under any circumstances, but the Civil War, after decades of white-hot partisan politics, was especially onerous. From all directions, Lincoln faced disparagement and defiance. He was often at odds with his generals, his cabinet, his party, and a majority of the American people.

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln delivered his official Emancipation Proclamation , reshaping the cause of the Civil War from saving the Union to abolishing slavery.

The Union Army’s first year and a half of battlefield defeats made it difficult to keep morale high and support strong for a reunification of the nation. And the Union victory at Antietam on September 22, 1862, while by no means conclusive, was hopeful. It gave Lincoln the confidence to officially change the goals of the war. On that same day, he issued a preliminary proclamation that slaves in states rebelling against the Union would be free as of January 1.

The Emancipation Proclamation stated that all individuals who were held as enslaved people in rebellious states “henceforward shall be free.” The action was more symbolic than effective because the North didn’t control any states in rebellion, and the proclamation didn’t apply to border states, Tennessee, or some Louisiana parishes.

As a result, the Union army shared the Proclamation’s mandate only after it had taken control of Confederate territory. In the far reaches of western Texas, that day finally came on June 19, 1865—more than two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. For decades, many Black Americans have celebrated this anniversary, known as Juneteenth or Emancipation Day, and in 2021, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a national holiday.

Still, the Emancipation Proclamation did have some immediate impact. It permitted Black Americans to serve in the Union Army for the first time, which contributed to the eventual Union victory. The historic declaration also paved the way for the passage of the 13 th Amendment that ended legal slavery in the United States.

On November 19, 1863, Lincoln delivered what would become his most famous speech and one of the most important speeches in American history: the Gettysburg Address .

Addressing a crowd of around 15,000 people, Lincoln delivered his 272-word speech at one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War, the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania. The Civil War, Lincoln said, was the ultimate test of the preservation of the Union created in 1776, and the people who died at Gettysburg fought to uphold this cause.

Lincoln evoked the Declaration of Independence , saying it was up to the living to ensure that the “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” and this Union was “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

A common interpretation was that the president was expanding the cause of the Civil War from simply reunifying the Union to also fighting for equality and abolishing slavery.

Following Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the war effort gradually improved for the North, though more by attrition than by brilliant military victories.

But by 1864, the Confederate armies had eluded major defeat and Lincoln was convinced he’d be a one-term president. His nemesis George B. McClellan , the former commander of the Army of the Potomac, challenged him for the presidency, but the contest wasn’t even close. Lincoln received 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 243 electoral votes.

On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee , commander of the Army of Virginia, surrendered his forces to Union General Ulysses S. Grant . The Civil War was for all intents and purposes over.

Reconstruction had already began during the Civil War, as early as 1863 in areas firmly under Union military control, and Lincoln favored a policy of quick reunification with a minimum of retribution. He was confronted by a radical group of Republicans in Congress that wanted complete allegiance and repentance from former Confederates. Before a political debate had any chance to firmly develop, Lincoln was killed.

Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. Lincoln was taken to the Petersen House across the street and laid in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. He was 56. His death was mourned by millions of citizens in the North and South alike.

Lincoln’s body first lay in state at the U. S. Capitol. About 600 invited guests attended a funeral in the East Room of the White House on April 19, though an inconsolable Mary Todd Lincoln wasn’t present.

His body was transported to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois, by a funeral train. Newspapers publicized the schedule of the train, which made stops along various cities that played roles in Lincoln’s path to Washington. In 10 cities, the casket was removed and placed in public for memorial services. Lincoln was finally placed in a tomb on May 4.

On the day of Lincoln’s death, Andrew Johnson was sworn in as the 17 th president at the Kirkwood House hotel in Washington.

Lincoln, already taller than most, is known for his distinctive top hats. Although it’s unclear when he began wearing them, historians believe he likely chose the style as a gimmick.

He wore a top hat to Ford’s Theatre on the night of his assassination. Following his death, the War Department preserved the hat until 1867 when, with Mary Todd Lincoln’s approval, it was transferred to the Patent Office and the Smithsonian Institution. Worried about the commotion it might cause, the Smithsonian stored the hat in a basement instead of putting it on display. It was finally exhibited in 1893, and it’s now one of the Institution’s most treasured items.

Lincoln is frequently cited by historians and average citizens alike as America’s greatest president. An aggressively activist commander-in-chief, Lincoln used every power at his disposal to assure victory in the Civil War and end slavery in the United States.

Some scholars doubt that the Union would have been preserved had another person of lesser character been in the White House. According to historian Michael Burlingame , “No president in American history ever faced a greater crisis and no president ever accomplished as much.”

Lincoln’s philosophy was perhaps best summed up in his Second Inaugural Address , when he stated, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

The Lincoln Memorial

Since its dedication in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington has honored the president’s legacy. Inspired by the Greek Parthenon, the monument features a 19-foot high statue of Lincoln and engravings of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. Former President William Howard Taft served as chair of the Lincoln Memorial Commission, which oversaw its design and construction.

The monument is the most visited in the city, attracting around 8 million people per year. Civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the memorial’s steps in 1963.

Lincoln has been the subject of numerous films about his life and presidency, rooted in both realism and absurdity.

Among the earlier films featuring the former president is Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), which stars Henry Fonda and focuses on Lincoln’s early life and law career. A year later, Abe Lincoln in Illinois gave a dramatized account of Lincoln’s life after leaving Kentucky.

The most notable modern film is Lincoln , the 2012 biographical drama directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln and Sally Field as his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln . Day-Lewis won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and the film was nominated for Best Picture.

A more fantastical depiction of Lincoln came in the 1989 comedy film Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure , in which the titular characters played by Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter travel back in time for the president’s help in completing their high school history report. Lincoln gives the memorable instruction to “be excellent to each other and... party on, dudes!”

Another example is the 2012 action film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter , based on a 2010 novel by Seth Grahame-Smith. Benjamin Walker plays Lincoln, who leads a secret double life hunting the immortal creatures and even fighting them during the Civil War.

Lincoln’s role during the Civil War is heavily explored in the 1990 Ken Burns documentary The Civil War , which won two Emmy Awards and two Grammys. In 2022, the History Channel aired a three-part docuseries about his life simply titled Abraham Lincoln .

• Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
• I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
• No man is good enough to govern another man, without that other ’ s consent.
• I have learned the value of old friends by making many new ones.
• Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
• Whenever I hear anyone arguing over slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
• To give the victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.
• Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.
• Don ’ t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.
• Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
• With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation ’ s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
• I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.
• Nearly all men can handle adversity, if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
• I ’ m the big buck of this lick. If any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns.
• We can complain because rose bushes have thorns.
• Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
• It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us !

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Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.

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There are about 15,000 books on Abraham Lincoln — here are the 7 you should read

In less than two centuries, about  15,000 books have been written on Abraham Lincoln and his presidency.

Trying to weed through the options in order to figure out which ones are actually worth reading is a pretty daunting task.

In honor of Lincoln's birthday on Wednesday, we've put together a list of seven great books about the 16th president of the US — each dealing with a different facet of his presidency.

Whether you're looking for the overall story, an analysis of his political career, or even something on the Gettysburg address, we've got it here. 

1. "Lincoln" by David Herbert Donald

Why you want to read it:

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Herbert Donald tells the story of Lincoln's ascent from rural Kentucky to his presidency during the Civil War.

This one's a great option for anyone who wants an easy, flowing account of one of the most complex presidencies.

Book: $13.54 Kindle: $14.99

2. "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Why you want to read it: 

Doris Kearns Goodwin examines Lincoln's political genius through a multi-biography of him and his team of personal and political competitors.

She outlines how he brought together disgruntled opponents and harnessed their talents to keep the Union together.

Book: $14.28 Kindle: $11.99

3. "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era" by James M. McPherson

This book focuses on the Civil War, not just on Lincoln. But arguably, it's impossible to understand one without the other.

"Likely to become the standard one-volume history of our Civil War, this [book] vivifies, with palpable immediacy, scholarly acumen and interpretive skill, events foreshadowing the conflict, the war itself and its basic issue: slavery," writes Publishers Weekly.

Related stories

4. "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade American" by Garry Willis

The book examines Lincoln's Gettysburg address in the context of its historical and cultural frame.

"Garry Wills has given our nation's greatest gathering of words . . . new urgency . . . demonstrating that Lincoln's words still have power," wrote The New York Times' William McFeely.

Book: $13.36 Kindle: $13.99

5. "Lincoln's Body: A Cultural History" by Richard Wightman Fox

“In his sweeping discussion of Lincoln's physical body (how people viewed it during his lifetime or interpreted it after his death), Richard Wightman Fox deftly traces the high-stakes cultural battle—waged in poetry, prose, art, and film—over the meaning of Lincoln, man and myth, from his day to our own," writes Brenda Wineapple.

Book: $16.96 Kindle: $14.16

6. "A. Lincoln: A Biography" by Ronald C. White Jr.

Thanks to a reader suggestion!

"If you read one book about Lincoln, make it 'A. Lincoln,'" according to the USA Today.

Book:  $14.28 Kindle:  $11.99

BONUS: 7. "Lincoln: A Novel" by Gore Vidal

Technically, this one's a work of historical fiction, so we're labeling this as a bonus. Nevertheless, it's an incredible work that's worth the read.

"Superb . . . a grand entertainment. . . . A plausible and human Lincoln, of us and yet beyond us," wrote Yale professor Harold Bloom.

Book: $12.40 Kindle: $11.78

Watch: This is the world’s hottest chocolate bar — we tried it to see if it lives up to its name

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Abraham Lincoln

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 7, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

Abraham Lincoln , a self-taught lawyer, legislator and vocal opponent of slavery, was elected 16th president of the United States in November 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. Lincoln proved to be a shrewd military strategist and a savvy leader: His Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for slavery’s abolition, while his Gettysburg Address stands as one of the most famous pieces of oratory in American history. 

In April 1865, with the Union on the brink of victory, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln’s assassination made him a martyr to the cause of liberty, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history.

Abraham Lincoln's Childhood and Early Life

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Nancy and Thomas Lincoln in a one-room log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky . His family moved to southern Indiana in 1816. Lincoln’s formal schooling was limited to three brief periods in local schools, as he had to work constantly to support his family.

In 1830, his family moved to Macon County in southern Illinois , and Lincoln got a job working on a river flatboat hauling freight down the Mississippi River to New Orleans . After settling in the town of New Salem, Illinois, where he worked as a shopkeeper and a postmaster, Lincoln became involved in local politics as a supporter of the Whig Party , winning election to the Illinois state legislature in 1834.

Like his Whig heroes Henry Clay and Daniel Webster , Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery to the territories, and had a grand vision of the expanding United States, with a focus on commerce and cities rather than agriculture.

Did you know? The war years were difficult for Abraham Lincoln and his family. After his young son Willie died of typhoid fever in 1862, the emotionally fragile Mary Lincoln, widely unpopular for her frivolity and spendthrift ways, held seances in the White House in the hopes of communicating with him, earning her even more derision.

Lincoln taught himself law, passing the bar examination in 1836. The following year, he moved to the newly named state capital of Springfield. For the next few years, he worked there as a lawyer and served clients ranging from individual residents of small towns to national railroad lines.

He met Mary Todd , a well-to-do Kentucky belle with many suitors (including Lincoln’s future political rival, Stephen Douglas ), and they married in 1842. The Lincolns went on to have four children together, though only one would live into adulthood: Robert Todd Lincoln (1843–1926), Edward Baker Lincoln (1846–1850), William Wallace Lincoln (1850–1862) and Thomas “Tad” Lincoln (1853-1871).

Abraham Lincoln Enters Politics

Lincoln won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846 and began serving his term the following year. As a congressman, Lincoln was unpopular with many Illinois voters for his strong stance against the Mexican-American War. Promising not to seek reelection, he returned to Springfield in 1849.

Events conspired to push him back into national politics, however: Douglas, a leading Democrat in Congress, had pushed through the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which declared that the voters of each territory, rather than the federal government, had the right to decide whether the territory should be slave or free.

On October 16, 1854, Lincoln went before a large crowd in Peoria to debate the merits of the Kansas-Nebraska Act with Douglas, denouncing slavery and its extension and calling the institution a violation of the most basic tenets of the Declaration of Independence .

With the Whig Party in ruins, Lincoln joined the new Republican Party–formed largely in opposition to slavery’s extension into the territories–in 1856 and ran for the Senate again that year (he had campaigned unsuccessfully for the seat in 1855 as well). In June, Lincoln delivered his now-famous “house divided” speech, in which he quoted from the Gospels to illustrate his belief that “this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free.”

Lincoln then squared off against Douglas in a series of famous debates; though he lost the Senate election, Lincoln’s performance made his reputation nationally. 

Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 Presidential Campaign

Lincoln’s profile rose even higher in early 1860 after he delivered another rousing speech at New York City’s Cooper Union. That May, Republicans chose Lincoln as their candidate for president, passing over Senator William H. Seward of New York and other powerful contenders in favor of the rangy Illinois lawyer with only one undistinguished congressional term under his belt.

In the general election, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the northern Democrats; southern Democrats had nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, while John Bell ran for the brand new Constitutional Union Party. With Breckenridge and Bell splitting the vote in the South, Lincoln won most of the North and carried the Electoral College to win the White House .

He built an exceptionally strong cabinet composed of many of his political rivals, including Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates and Edwin M. Stanton .

Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War

After years of sectional tensions, the election of an antislavery northerner as the 16th president of the United States drove many southerners over the brink. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated as 16th U.S. president in March 1861, seven southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America .

Lincoln ordered a fleet of Union ships to supply the federal Fort Sumter in South Carolina in April. The Confederates fired on both the fort and the Union fleet, beginning the Civil War . Hopes for a quick Union victory were dashed by defeat in the Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) , and Lincoln called for 500,000 more troops as both sides prepared for a long conflict.

While the Confederate leader Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate, Mexican War hero and former secretary of war, Lincoln had only a brief and undistinguished period of service in the Black Hawk War (1832) to his credit. He surprised many when he proved to be a capable wartime leader, learning quickly about strategy and tactics in the early years of the Civil War, and about choosing the ablest commanders.

General George McClellan , though beloved by his troops, continually frustrated Lincoln with his reluctance to advance, and when McClellan failed to pursue Robert E. Lee’s retreating Confederate Army in the aftermath of the Union victory at Antietam in September 1862, Lincoln removed him from command.

During the war, Lincoln drew criticism for suspending some civil liberties, including the right of habeas corpus , but he considered such measures necessary to win the war.

Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address

Shortly after the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg), Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation , which took effect on January 1, 1863, and freed all of the enslaved people in the rebellious states not under federal control, but left those in the border states (loyal to the Union) in bondage.

Though Lincoln once maintained that his “paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery,” he nonetheless came to regard emancipation as one of his greatest achievements and would argue for the passage of a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery (eventually passed as the 13th Amendment after his death in 1865).

Two important Union victories in July 1863—at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania—finally turned the tide of the war. General George Meade missed the opportunity to deliver a final blow against Lee’s army at Gettysburg, and Lincoln would turn by early 1864 to the victor at Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant , as supreme commander of the Union forces.

In November 1863, Lincoln delivered a brief speech (just 272 words) at the dedication ceremony for the new national cemetery at Gettysburg. Published widely, the Gettysburg Address eloquently expressed the war’s purpose, harking back to the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence and the pursuit of human equality. It became the most famous speech of Lincoln’s presidency, and one of the most widely quoted speeches in history.

Abraham Lincoln Wins 1864 Presidential Election

In 1864, Lincoln faced a tough reelection battle against the Democratic nominee, the former Union General George McClellan, but Union victories in battle (especially General William T. Sherman’s capture of Atlanta in September) swung many votes the president’s way. In his second inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1865, Lincoln addressed the need to reconstruct the South and rebuild the Union: “With malice toward none; with charity for all.”

As Sherman marched triumphantly northward through the Carolinas after staging his March to the Sea from Atlanta, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House , Virginia , on April 9. Union victory was near, and Lincoln gave a speech on the White House lawn on April 11, urging his audience to welcome the southern states back into the fold. Tragically, Lincoln would not live to help carry out his vision of Reconstruction .

Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination

On the night of April 14, 1865, the actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth slipped into the president’s box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and shot him point-blank in the back of the head. Lincoln was carried to a boardinghouse across the street from the theater, but he never regained consciousness, and died in the early morning hours of April 15, 1865.

Lincoln’s assassination made him a national martyr. On April 21, 1865, a train carrying his coffin left Washington, D.C. on its way to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried on May 4. Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train traveled through 180 cities and seven states so mourners could pay homage to the fallen president.

Today, Lincoln’s birthday—alongside the birthday of George Washington —is honored on President’s Day , which falls on the third Monday of February.

Abraham Lincoln Quotes

“Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.”

“I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

“I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.”

“I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be a humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle.”

“This is essentially a People's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men—to lift artificial weights from all shoulders—to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all—to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

“This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

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The Best Books on President Lincoln

Which of the approximately 15,000 books written on President Lincoln should you read? In honor of our greatest leader Allen Barra picks the best reads.

Allen Barra

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Two years ago, Paul Tetreault, director of Ford’s Theater in Washington, declared that there are more books written about Abraham Lincoln than any other person than Jesus Christ. The estimate then was over 15,000, nearly half of which were included in a tower of books to honor Abe . This makes the life and legacy of our 16th president intimidating to the newcomer, but here’s ten nonfiction works and one novel that will guide the novice through the halls of Lincoln lit.

Abraham Lincoln by Lord Charnwood (1916)

Godfrey Rathbone Benson, the first Baron Charnwood, was an Oxford educated philosopher, politician (both in the House of Commons and as Mayor of Lichfield) and historian whose biographies on both Lincoln (1916) and Theodore Roosevelt (1923) offer a foreign perspective of our greatest president: “When an English writer tells again this tale, which has been well told already and in which there can remain no important new facts to disclose, he must endeavor to make clear to Englishmen circumstances and conditions which are familiar to Americans.” In other words, Charnwood tells the story as if it had not been told before. This makes it an ideal beginning place for American readers nearly a hundred years after its publication. Available in several paperback editions and e-book.

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills (1993)

A Pulitzer Prize-winning account by our greatest political writer of how Lincoln wrote the 272 words that has become our country’s most important document since the writings of the Founding Fathers. No other work explains why the Gettysburg Address is the linchpin of Lincoln’s political thought and how it has affected American politics ever since.

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald (1995)

Generally regarded by aficionados as one of if not the best single-volume biography of Lincoln. Donald, who died in 2009, was praised by Eric Foner (professor of history at Columbia and author of The Fiery Trial; Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery ) for “Avoiding the two pitfalls that people fall into. One is just hagiography—you know [Lincoln] was born with a pen in his hand ready to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, and the other is the opposite, of course, [Lincoln was] just a racist or didn’t really care about slavery at all. Donald navigates between them.”

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (2003) and Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief (2008) by James M. McPherson

Though it is not a biography of Lincoln, Battle Cry of Freedom is one of the best books about how Lincoln handled the crises of the War, from military to political to social situations. Doris Kearns Goodwin recommended this book on NPR a few years ago, saying that McPherson “is such a narrative genius …what he’s done is to mix together the battles, Lincoln’s leadership, the home front, the finances, the Cabinet, all together, but it drives forward as a story, and you don’t know until finally, perhaps, Atlanta, whether the North is really going to win this war.”

In Tried by War , McPherson maintains that Lincoln’s role as Commander in Chief has been underexamined.; he argues, convincingly, that the President’s violation of civil liberties was not so great as many actions taken by later chief executives in less critical circumstances. His operational device to his commanders was often perceptive—he seemed to have a firmer grasp of grand strategy than some of his generals, particularly McClellan. Though Lincoln was an amateur on the subject of war, McPherson believes he was our greatest war leader.

Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President by Harold Holzer (2005) and Emancipating Lincoln—The Proclamation in Text, Context, and Memory (2012) by Harold Holzer

Holzer, perhaps our greatest contemporary Lincoln scholar, has written and edited numerous essential volumes, including Lincoln as I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes, and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies and Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861 . In Lincoln at Cooper Union he does for Lincoln’s 1860 speech what Garry Wills did for the Gettysburg Address. Holzer makes a convincing case that the speech not only made Lincoln the leading Republican candidate for president but defined the policies on which he was elected.

Perhaps Holzer’s most outstanding recent work is Emancipating Lincoln . Compact and precise—just 172 pages of text and 23 pages of notes—the book is a model of lucid historical writing. There is probably no important document in our country’s history that even Civil War students know so little about than the Emancipation Proclamation. Much of the story, it turns out, is in the back story. Lincoln, once convinced of both the economic and moral validity of freeing the slaves, agonized over the process, rewriting his proclamation three times. (He tested the waters, so to speak, by first abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, ending, in Holzer’s words, “the incomprehensible anomaly that permitted slavery to exist in the capital of the United States until the second year of a pro-slavery rebellion against the government.”

Short on literary flourish, the Proclamation was long on impact. Its reputation in our own time has declined so much that the Proclamation “is now often viewed not as revolutionary but as delayed, insufficient, and insincere.” Holzer, though, makes a reasoned argument that the lack of fire in Lincoln’s prose was deliberate as he did not wish to enflame moderates and that, whatever it did not accomplish at the moment was largely irrelevant; once the Proclamation was made slavery was doomed. Perhaps Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew said it best: “a poor document, but a mighty act.”

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2006)

It took 141 years after the death of Lincoln for a book to appear which put into detail his genius for reading character and establishing relationships. Lincoln found admirable traits in, among others, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates, Edwin M. Stanton, four men who not only sought the Republican nomination for president in 1860 but held Lincoln himself in contempt. (Stanton referred to the President as “a long-armed ape.”—and you thought Obama got no respect.) No other history has probed the backgrounds of Lincoln’s cabinet members in such depth nor revealed the machinations that Lincoln used to mold a winning team from such disparate players. ( Team of Rivals served as the historical basis for Spielberg’s film Lincoln. )

Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan (2008)

Just when you thought there were no new angles to approach Lincoln from, Fred Kaplan, a distinguished professor emeritus of English at Queens College and, among others, author of The Singular Mark Twain, defined Lincoln through his own words, words that were shaped through early exposure to Shakespeare, the King James Bible, Aesop’s Fables, the writings of Thomas Jefferson, John Bunyon, the speeches of Henry Clay, Classical writers, and poets such as Thomas Gray and Oliver Wendell Holmes and others. “For Lincoln,” writes Kaplan, “words mattered immensely. His increasing skill in their use during his lifetime, and his valuation of their power, mark him as the one president who is both a national leader and a genius with language.” William Dean Howells called Mark Twain the “Lincoln of our literature. Lincoln, Kaplan claims, “was the Twain of our politics.” Kaplan, the editor and critic, and Lincoln, the writer, are a wonderful combination.

Lincoln and the World by Kevin Peraino (2013)

“There can be no new Lincoln stories,” one of the President’s former secretaries wrote in 1900, “the stories are all told.” And yet, as Kevin Peraino writes in his compelling book, Lincoln in the World, “One of the unexpected joys of studying Lincoln in the 21st-century is how much astonishing new material about him has come to light.”

Lincoln in the World focuses on several distinct challenges that defined “Lincolnian foreign policy.” As a young Congressman, he opposed President Polk’s aggressive policy towards Mexico and the subsequent war. (His enemies in Illinois dubbed him “the Benedict Arnold of our district.”) He struggled with his brilliant but irascible secretary of state, William Seward, to control the direction of foreign policy. His standoff with British prime minister Lord Palmerston over the Trent affair, in which U.S. sailors forcibly boarded a British ship to remove Confederate agents. Wisely, he decided to appease the British.) He also engaged in an ongoing chess match with Napoleon III over France’s interference in Mexico.

The thread that runs through each episode is Lincoln’s common sense, good judgment and, above all, patience. He often proved “more adept at the arts of diplomacy that then polished and gold-braided envoys of Europe.” Lincoln in the World isn’t the first work to point out Lincoln’s brilliance as a seminal foreign policy president, but it is the first to gather all the key episodes. Among the choice nuggets Peraino unearths is a letter to Lincoln from none other than Karl Marx, who congratulated him on “the triumphant war cry of your reelection.”

Lincoln by Gore Vidal (1984)

Probably the greatest fictional account of Lincoln’s presidency as well as Vidal’s best novel. Lincoln is seen mostly through the eyes of those who knew him—Vidal’s scholarship is admirable, and he seems to draw from every period source who came in contact with the man Vidal has described as “the American Bismarck.” In other words, the philosophy behind the fiction is that Lincoln did not so much preserve his country as create it, an idea that derives from Edmund Wilson’s Patriotic Gore (no relation to Vidal) but which Vidal brings to life. Vidal uses modern literary technique to bring period detail to life.

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My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies

The Best Biographies of Abraham Lincoln

28 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by Steve in Best Biographies Posts , President #16 - A Lincoln

≈ 66 Comments

Abraham Lincoln , Allen Guelzo , American history , Benjamin Thomas , biographies , book reviews , Carl Sandburg , David Donald , David S. Reynolds , Doris Kearns Goodwin , Eric Foner , James McPherson , Michael Burlingame , presidential biographies , Presidents , Pulitzer Prize , Richard Brookhiser , Ronald White , Stephen Oates

Of the sixteen presidents whose biographies I’ve read so far, none have offered the variety of choices of Abraham Lincoln. Of the dozen Lincoln biographies I read, two were Pulitzer Prize winners, one is the second best-read presidential biography of all time, and six held the distinction of being the definitive Lincoln biography at one time or another.

No president before Lincoln required as much of my time, either – it took me over 3½ months to read all twelve biographies. Together, they contained nearly 9,500 pages – almost twice as many as the president with the second-tallest stack of biographies in my collection (Thomas Jefferson with about 5,000 pages).

Given this enormous time commitment, it’s fortunate Lincoln was both a fascinating individual and a masterful politician. His life story is as interesting as anyone’s (president or otherwise), and he proved far more impressive than most of the first fifteen presidents.

* The first Lincoln biography I read was Michael Burlingame’s masterful two-volume “ Abraham Lincoln: A Life ” published in 2008. This 1,600 page jewel is actually the condensed version of the much longer original manuscript that is  only available online  (free!). Although daunting for a new Lincoln admirer and probably more detailed than most readers will desire, this biography is extremely descriptive and consistently insightful.

Particularly well-covered is the crushing poverty of Lincoln’s youth, his “colorful” relationship with Mary Todd, the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 and the Republican convention of 1860. Because of its extensive breadth and depth of coverage this may not be the perfect introduction to Lincoln for some readers. But for anyone interested in Lincoln, this an excellent – perhaps unrivaled – second or third biography of Lincoln to read. ( Full review here )

* Next I read Ronald White’s 2009 “ A. Lincoln: A Biography .” Often described as the second best single-volume biography of Lincoln (after David Herbert Donald’s 1995 biography) I was not disappointed. Although fairly lengthy (at nearly 700 pages) it is entertaining to read and easy to follow. The author never leaves the reader stranded in a sea of confusing details, and to provide incremental clarity and context he has embedded a large number of maps, charts, illustrations and photographs at appropriate points within the text.

Compared to Burlingame’s excellent description of Lincoln’s youth, however, White provided less insight into this early phase of Lincoln’s life. And because White focused so intently on the development of Lincoln’s legal and political careers he provided far less perspective on Lincoln’s family life than Burlingame. What was mentioned of the volatile Mary Todd Lincoln was also far more generous than her treatment at the hands of many other Lincoln biographies. Overall, White’s biography proved an excellent, if not perfect, introduction to Lincoln. ( Full review here )

* David Herbert Donald’s widely acclaimed “ Lincoln ” was my next biography. Ever since its publication in 1995 this biography has maintained a passionate and loyal following and is often considered the best single-volume biography of Lincoln ever . Donald’s biography provided me the first truly captivating view of the interactions between Lincoln and his cabinet members. I also found the author’s description of Lincoln’s hunt for the presidency (including the Republican nominating convention of 1860) absolutely terrific.

But because I expected perfection from this biography, I was disappointed to find the author’s writing style to be that of an accomplished historian rather than a great storyteller. In addition, Donald occasionally shifts gears without warning between chronological and topic-focused progression. Finally, I had hoped to meet the same colorful, intellectual and intriguing Abe Lincoln in this biography that I had met in others…and by a small margin I did not. But overall, David Donald’s “Lincoln” is an exceptionally worthy biography and can be recommended without hesitation. ( Full review here )

*Stephen Oates’s 1977 “ With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln ” was the fourth biography of Lincoln I read. When published, Oates’s biography was the first comprehensive look at Lincoln in almost two decades and replaced Benjamin Thomas’s 1952 biography of Lincoln as “the” definitive work on Lincoln. Unfortunately, a little more than a decade after this book’s publication, Oates was accused of plagiarizing Thomas’s biography.

Shorter than the other biographies of Lincoln I had read, “With Malice Toward None” was more efficient with my time but at the cost of ignoring many of the interesting details found in other biographies. And while the author’s writing style is pleasantly informal, it occasionally seems less serious as well. I also found Oates’s descriptions of a number of Lincoln’s most important personal and political friendships lacking, and the author misses the opportunity to provide his own explicit judgments as to Lincoln’s actions and legacy. Overall, a good but not great introduction to Lincoln. ( Full review here )

*Benjamin Thomas’s 1952 biography “ Abraham Lincoln ” was next on my list. This was the first comprehensive single-volume biography of Lincoln in the thirty-five years following publication of Lord Charnwood’s 1916 Lincoln biography. This book immediately feels like one written by a natural storyteller rather than a historian (though Thomas was both). Descriptions of both people and events are usually brilliant and make for an enjoyable reading experience. In addition, the author’s final chapter (mostly Thomas’s observations of Lincoln as president) proves extremely interesting.

Less perfect is Thomas’s lack of focus on Lincoln’s family, his adequate but not excellent review of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the Republican convention of 1860, and his seemingly perfunctory summary of Lincoln’s cabinet selection process. But overall I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Thomas’s sixty-two year old biography of Lincoln and for me it ranks at or near “best-in-class”. ( Full review here )

*Next, and for more than a month, I read Carl Sandburg’s two-volume “ Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years ”  (published in 1926) and his four-volume “ Abraham Lincoln: The War Years ” (published in 1939). The latter was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history, and the six volumes together totaled about 3,300 pages.

Although it is unsurprising that the author of the first two volumes was a poet, the final four volumes could easily have been written by an Ivory-tower academic. The former is often lyrical and lucid while the latter is more often needlessly verbose and tedious. Sandburg’s combined works are impressive in scope, but uneven in focus and he often has difficulty separating the important from the trivial.

“The Prairie Years” is excellent at transporting the reader to Lincoln’s place and time, describing his surroundings and the local culture wonderfully. But the series is not an ideal biography of Lincoln’s early years.  For its part, “The War Years” is an exhaustingly comprehensive account of Lincoln’s presidency (a great deal can be exposed in 2,400 pages, after all) but is frequently difficult to follow and consistently dense and difficult to read. One almost gets the sense Sandburg expected to be paid by the page.

Although it was an astonishing undertaking at the time, Sandburg’s six volumes compare poorly to other Lincoln biographies I’ve read in terms of efficiency with the reader’s time, effectiveness at delivering potent information to the reader, and maintaining a consistently interesting experience. I’ve not read Sandburg’s distilled single-volume version of these six books, but although the original six volumes are occasionally interesting and informative, more often they are just taxing. (Full reviews here and here )

* Next I read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “ Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln .” This is one of the most popular presidential biographies of all time and was written by a Pulitzer Prize winning author (though for her biography of FDR, not Lincoln). Published in 2005, Goodwin’s rationale for the book was Lincoln’s decision to select his presidential rivals for key positions in his cabinet. The story of their relationships with each other is marvelously well-told.

Much of the time “Team of Rivals” is really a multiple biography of Lincoln, William Seward, Edward Bates and Salmon Chase. Goodwin weaves a narrative which is entertaining and often masterful. Unfortunately, left behind in the effort to write a book focused on Lincoln’s cabinet is adequate emphasis on Lincoln’s youth and pre-presidency; the reader is rushed through these years in order to focus on the book’s  raison d’etre.

But in many respects, “Team of Rivals” is truly exceptional. Probably no other biography provides a more interesting and more thoughtful review of Lincoln’s interactions with his key advisers, and Goodwin resists the temptation to allow her biography of Lincoln to devolve into a tedious review of the Civil War. Overall, this is a very good book for a new fan of Lincoln, but it is a great book for someone seeking an entertaining and informative narrative about his team of advisers. ( Full review here )

* Eric Foner’s “ The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery ” was published in 2010 and received the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for history. Although included on my list of best biographies, it proves far less a biography of Lincoln than a treatise on his views of slavery. Although this is a topic well-covered in other Lincoln biographies, Foner dissects it with greater-than-average focus and effort. His analysis is generally clear and articulate, although the text can be tedious rather than interesting at times. And despite professing itself to be “both less and more than another biography” it is not a biography at all. For that reason, I declined to provide a rating for this book. ( Full review here )

* James McPherson’s “ Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief ” was next on my list. This 2008 biography focuses on Lincoln’s role as the nation’s commander in chief during the Civil War. McPherson is best known, of course, for authoring the highly-regarded “ Battle Cry of Freedom ” which may be the best one-volume work ever published on the Civil War.

Because of McPherson’s exclusive focus on Lincoln’s presidency there is virtually no introduction to the man at all. While the author clearly chose this approach in order to provide a unique cast to his biography, no analysis of Lincoln can possibly be complete without conveying key basic elements of Lincoln’s background. And while McPherson claims no other Lincoln biography has ever focused adequately on his role as commander in chief, I find this argument less-than-convincing. Rather than seeing Lincoln from a new perspective, McPherson shows Lincoln from  only one perspective. ( Full review here )

* Next-to-last on my list was Allen Guelzo’s “ Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President ” published in 1999. Often described as an “intellectual biography” this book quickly takes on the feel of an academic paper written by a history professor rather than a biography written by a novelist. Through its earliest pages, and not infrequently throughout, it resembles a political and philosophical treatise rather than a biography. The book seems geared to an academic, not a broad, audience.

The best feature of this book is Guelzo’s epilogue which is one of the best concluding chapters of any presidential biography I’ve ever read. For an impatient but determined reader, this section of Guelzo’s biography should be read first…and possibly three or four times. But for someone seeking an ideal introduction to Abraham Lincoln or a fluid narrative of his life from birth to death, I would look elsewhere. ( Full review here )

* The final biography I read on Lincoln was Lord Charnwood’s 1916 “ Abraham Lincoln .” This biography was only added to my list recently when I was able to obtain a ninety-six year old copy…and couldn’t resist the urge to see Lincoln through the eyes of a British baron.

By far the most interesting and insightful portion of this book is its first sixty pages. Here, Charnwood reviews for his presumably British audience the history of the United States up to the time of Lincoln’s presidency. These pages are worth reading by anyone interested in US history.

The remainder of the book is often beautifully written, but barely adequate as an introductory biography. This is due at least in part to the book’s age and comparatively limited primary source material available to the author when this biography was written nearly a century ago. ( Full review here )

– – – – – – – – – – –

[Added Nov 2020]

I recently read David S. Reynolds’s new release “ Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times .” This self-described cultural biography is hefty (932 pages of text), informative and excellent at placing Lincoln within the context of the political, economic and social cross-currents of his era. However, it pre-supposes a familiarity with Lincoln and his times, fails to humanize him, largely ignores his personal life (though his wife receives significant attention) and brushes past several significant historical events which would receive attention in a more traditional biography.

This book can be recommended to Lincoln aficionados seeking a deeper understanding of how he navigated his era, but cannot be recommended for someone seeking a comprehensive introduction to Lincoln’s life and legacy.  ( Full review here )

[Added Feb 2022]

I just finished reading Richard Brookhiser’s “ Founders’ Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln ” published in 2014. Although its subtitle and marketing efforts are both suggestive of a biography, this book’s mission is something altogether different (and, for the right audience, intriguing): It seeks to explore Lincoln’s lifelong efforts to perpetuate the work of the Founding Fathers and to connect his actions to his understanding of their true intentions.

Unfortunately, this book is neither a dedicated biography nor a focused exploration of Lincoln’s political philosophy. Instead, it is a somewhat uncomfortable hybrid of the two which leaves the “whole” worth less than the sum of its parts. Readers seeking a traditional biographical experience (or even a cohesive introduction to the 16th president) need to look elsewhere, and dedicated fans of Lincoln will the narrative interesting…but with an excess of conjecture and speculation. ( Full review here )

[Added Mar 2023]

Jon Meacham’s widely praised “ And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle ” was published in the fall of 2022. Like many other recent books on Lincoln, this one is marketed (at least implicitly ) as a biography…and the publisher claims that it “chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln.” But while the 421 page narrative does follow the broad contours of Lincoln’s life – from cradle to grave – most of its energy is directed toward the exploration of Lincoln’s moral, religious and political views and closely observing his antislavery commitment.

Supported by more than 200 pages of end notes and bibliography, this is one of the most best-researched books on a president I’ve ever read. And it is extremely successful in its goal of enlightening the reader as to the sources, and evolution, of Lincoln’s attitude toward slavery. Readers already familiar with the fascinating texture of Lincoln’s day-to-day life will find this book a rewarding supplement. But anyone seeking a thorough, comprehensive and colorful introduction to Lincoln’s life and legacy will need to look elsewhere for a more “traditional” biography . ( Full review here )

Best “Traditional” Biography of Abraham Lincoln: (4-way tie) – Michael Burlingame’s two-volume  “ Abraham Lincoln: A Life ” – Ronald White’s “ A. Lincoln: A Biography ” – David Herbert Donald’s “ Lincoln ” – Benjamin Thomas’s “ Abraham Lincoln: A Biography ”

Best “Non-Traditional” Lincoln Biography: – Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “ Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln ”

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66 thoughts on “the best biographies of abraham lincoln”.

June 29, 2014 at 8:13 pm

So, Team of Rivals being the second best read presidential biography, what’s the first?

June 30, 2014 at 5:29 am

“John Adams” by David McCullough, though I often wonder what percentage of books that are purchased are ever really read cover-to-cover. Both of these bios are pretty captivating so I imagine a high percentage of folks who start actually do get through them…

January 26, 2016 at 3:23 pm

A British view of Lincoln: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06ycr4x#play

January 27, 2016 at 7:34 am

Fascinating and well worth a listen – thanks!

March 14, 2016 at 2:48 am

Fantastic information. Thanks!

March 14, 2016 at 5:46 am

Thanks and welcome!

March 20, 2016 at 10:06 am

I am a university student in England and am currently doing an essay on the cause(s) of the American Civil War. I am fascinated with American history and politics, and this post is very helpful. I’ll be getting Donald’s biography out of the university’s library tomorrow to use for research, but may come back to it and some of the above mentioned biographies once I graduate. I’ll definitely read some of your other reviews of Presidents when I have some spare time. Any advice for a book/chapter about Lincoln in the ’50s leading up to the conflict? My focus is on the Lincoln, Debates and historiography.

March 24, 2016 at 5:56 am

Oh my, you are really testing my memory! I think my first go-to source would be Michael Burlingame’s two-volume set (or the unabridged version which is available online free). If that isn’t a sufficient resource, I suspect his bibliography would be invaluable. Good luck!

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January 18, 2017 at 6:43 pm

Finally…finally I finished Lincoln: A Life. I didn’t check on page numbers, but I think this was either the third or fourth longest biography I have read so far. Overall, I thought Burlingame did a thorough job covering Loncoln’s life, including a decent synopsis on his life up to the presidency and his relationships with his wife and Cabinet officials. Interestingly, Steve expressed limited discussion about the Civil War, I feel there was too much discussion about the war and not enough about policy and legislation during his terms in office. I enjoy the policy discussions, for historical events like the war and the assination, I can read books specifically about them, the presidential biographies are seemingly the only place to find the wonky stuff. I have Team of Rivals as well, but that is on hold until I am through the list. Onto Jeffy D.

January 19, 2017 at 5:39 am

What are you going to read on JD? (Just curious as I plan my post-presidential reading and he’s certainly on that list!)

Team of Rivals was a great read though less “wonky” and policy-oriented…less a study of Lincoln’s presidency than a story of the fascinating characters who helped shape his administration. Easier (and more fun) to read than Burlingame’s but there was more raw info in the Lincoln: A Life (as one would suspect since it’s much longer).

January 23, 2017 at 8:21 pm

I went with Jefferson Davis, American by William Cooper. Although Davis was an important American, I did not feel like dedicating the time for Strode’s three volume.

March 9, 2017 at 6:24 am

I’d like to read my first book about Lincoln, but I don’t know which one to choose. Which one would you recommend of the following three: Ronald White’s “A. Lincoln: A Biography” David Herbert Donald’s “Lincoln” Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln”

Many thanks!

March 9, 2017 at 6:46 am

That might be the single toughest question you could have asked me (about presidential biographies, anyway). I really enjoyed all three immensely and you won’t go wrong no matter which you choose (and, indeed, you will almost certainly think you chose wisely!)

The first two are traditional, comprehensive biographies of Lincoln. I liked them both equally well and if choosing between them I would almost tell you to flip a coin – or read whichever is easier for you to get a copy of.

Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals” is only slightly less about Lincoln than the others but has the benefit of incorporating additional texture with mini-bios of Lincoln’s rivals for the presidency who subsequently ended up in his Cabinet. So while this one is slightly less about Lincoln than the others, it offers something extra in return.

If you could read *two* books on Lincoln, your first pick should be either Donald’s or White’s…followed by “Team of Rivals” which will mean even more to you having polished off a traditional Lincoln biography. Good luck!

March 12, 2017 at 4:24 pm

Thank you for your response! I’m going to buy “A. Lincoln: A Biography” first then!

April 18, 2017 at 10:14 am

I wanted to find a good Lincoln biography and came across your blog. Great list, thank you for such detailed descriptions of each book!

April 19, 2017 at 6:54 pm

I’m glad you found the site, and do let me know what you end up reading – and how you like it!

September 26, 2017 at 11:24 pm

First, I have been following most of your suggestions since Washington and now am spending a great amount on Lincoln.

I have read most of your suggestions on Lincoln including Sandburg’s. I really enjoyed Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.”

After Goodwin, I read Ida Tarbell’s 4 vol. set on “The Life Of Abraham Lincoln” written in 1895 and it was like reading the Lincoln portion of Goodwin’s all over again. I was really surprised how closely Goodwin followed Tarbell with the Lincoln portions of her work.

September 27, 2017 at 6:20 am

Thanks for your note – and for alerting me to Ida Tarbell’s series on Lincoln! I’m not sure how I missed it, but having been introduced to Tarbell during my journey through Teddy Roosevelt’s life I’m extremely intrigued / curious to get her take on Lincoln. Going on my follow-up list!

October 15, 2017 at 8:36 pm

In a world of endless writings on the presidents, your site is an invaluable resource! I’m so glad I found your reviews for both Lincoln and Washington. Choosing the “right” biography could be just as time-consuming as reading them all! I so appreciate your diligence and willingness to share!

October 16, 2017 at 6:28 am

Thanks! One of the things that has really struck me since I started is that new presidential biographies are published even faster than I can read and evaluate them…so this project seems like a “lifetime” journey. Still, once I’ve gotten through each of the presidents one time I do plan to try to stay current and read / review everything new (that seems high quality) as it is published…and all in an effort to help people figure out which is that one “almost perfect” biography for each president.

Do let me know if / when you read any that triggers a strong reaction on yor part, particularly if it’s something I didn’t have on my list-

November 7, 2017 at 1:45 pm

I’m so glad I swerved into your site/blog some months ago, it has been a great help! By accident, I have been reading presidential bios this year as well. By accident, I mean that I read “1776” by David McCullough and it made me want to know more about Geo. Washington. Fortunately, I chose the one by Ron Chernow and that really got me hooked – his style was easy and his prose is wonderful. I have since read John Adams by McCullough, Jefferson by Meacham, Madison by Cheney ( and the Letters of Dolly Madison by her grand-niece was very good), Monroe by Harlow Giles Unger, skipped J. Quincy Adams, then Jackson by H.W. Brands. I wasn’t that interested in what I considered less well known presidents, so after Jackson I chose the Pulitzer prize winning book “Impending Crisis” by David Potter, which covers Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Filmore, Pierce, and Buchanon to the brink of the Civil War. So, as you can see, I will be up to Lincoln and the Civil War soon. Of all these so far, I am still taken by how wonderful Chernow’s bio of Washington was, which included the details of the Revolutionary war. I have been using your reviews since Thomas Jefferson. I am limited to audiobooks so not always your recommendations but your reviews nevertheless have been my guide. Is there a single book that will include Lincoln’s early life as well as go thru the Civil War like Chernow’s did so beautifully? Or, should I read one bio focused primarily on Lincolns life and another about the Civil War? I noted your recommendation of James McPhersons “Battle Cry of Freedom.” Ronald White’s “A. Lincoln” and Donalds “Lincoln” are both on Audible, as is McPherson’s “Battle Cry of Freedom”

November 13, 2017 at 11:35 am

Your (audio) adventure sounds great! But you didn’t expect me to let you get away too easily with skipping over JQA, did you? 🙂 As you may have noticed, I thought he was an absolutely fascinating historical figure (if not an exceptional president) and although I didn’t uncover a “superb” biography of him, there are a couple that are pretty good.

As far as Lincoln is concerned, none of the biographies I read really reminds me of Chernow’s bio of Washington (stylistically or organizationally) but I thought several of them were fantastic. I think either White’s or Donald’s, in particular, will serve your purpose quite well. I would also note that only after I read a great biography of Ulysses S. Grant did I really fully appreciate and understand the Civil War more completely. Lincoln’s bios do a fine job, but only once you see the war from Grant’s perspective, too, do things come into even sharper focus. I’m sure once I read a biography of Robert E. Lee or Jefferson Davis I will have an even richer appreciation of the conflict, but I’m not quite there yet(!)

November 15, 2017 at 7:09 pm

By the time I got to JQA’s presidency, I felt I had read all the highlights of his life and career, from the bio’s of John Adams certainly, but also from Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. Little did I know then that as I went on he would be a thorn in the side of presidents Jackson to Polk! Based on what you said, after I read Lincoln and perhaps something on the Civil War, my brain will be so frazzled JQA will be less familiar and I’ll read him. I am Cherokee, and have been most disappointed that basically nil in the bio’s I’ve read to far is about Indians. Even with Jackson, from other books I know about different wars that Indians helped him with that made him famous, but not mentioned in his bio. If you are ever interested in one Cherokee’s dealing with ALL the Presidents from Washington to Jackson ( his name was Ridge), read John Ehle’s Trail of Tears. Before you reject it as I almost did ( don’t we all know about the TOT?), it’s 2/3’s about the Cherokee Nation from about a century before the TOT from the point of view of The Ridge, or Major Ridge as he later became known after Jackson promoted him. That is, if you ever finish this project! Anyway, if you know of any books about Indians dealings with early presidents, please advise. I didn’t know reading presidential bios was a “thing” but I guess it is. I spent 2016 just reading all of Fitzgerald and Hemingway’s novels and short stories, and several bios of each (and the Lost Generation). It’s fun to get into a subject and just rip it to shreds. Jeff Collins New Orleans

November 17, 2017 at 10:24 am

None of the biographies I’ve read (of Jackson or Wm Henry Harrison…or anyone else for that matter) seemed to focus on Indians to any significant (and balanced) degree. But your endorsement of “Trail of Tears” comes as no surprise since I’ve been told in the past that it’s an excellent book. Definitely on my bucket list!

February 24, 2018 at 12:16 pm

I just found this piece from a Google search for “best biographies of Lincoln” after re-watching the wonderful but historically flawed film “Abe Lincoln In Illinois”. Thank you so much for your insight into these books and your honest opinions about them. I am off to purchase two of them to read!

February 25, 2018 at 12:53 pm

Thanks for your comments, but you can’t leave me in suspense: which two are you going to read!?! Almost no matter which you choose, I expect you’ll really enjoy reading about Lincoln. He is a biographer’s dream subject in so many ways…

March 2, 2018 at 4:56 am

I read Burlingame online for the first 12 chapters because I wanted the detail on the early years. I then got the two abridged Burlingame books from the library and binge-read them. I found them very enjoyable. I also read Team of Rivals twice, because I got more out of it the second time. With that as a background, I picked up Lincoln in the Bardo with no expectations. It was a knockout to me how well it fit within the historical accuracy of Lincoln’s life, family, and times while being wildly creative and thought-provoking. I was left pondering insights gained through the characters that I could have only arrived at via the combination of this novel and my extensive reading of Lincoln and my resulting admiration of him. Truly extraordinary work of fiction about Lincoln that I would only recommend to someone who had done the background reading to get the book’s full impact.

March 5, 2018 at 7:06 am

I’m not sure why (perhaps because I’m writing this on a Monday morning?) but I found your comment about binge-reading Burlingame’s two-volume (1,600 pg) series amusing. Probably 10% of the biographies I have read were so good I would love to cheat and re-read them on the side – both for fun and to pick up on nuances I may have missed the first time through.

I am intrigued by historical fiction (from an entertainment perspective) but haven’t ever tackled the genre. Lincoln in the Bardo sounds intriguing – and like something I’m going to have to try on the side at some point. Sounds like Saunders really did his homework before letting his imagination run?

August 20, 2018 at 9:30 am

What do you think of Gore Vidal’s Lincoln?

August 20, 2018 at 11:13 am

I haven’t read it, nor have I read anything that falls into the category of “historical fiction.” I’ve heard it’s captivating but I don’t know much beyond that…

August 20, 2018 at 11:38 am

Thank you. Just finished B. Thomas. Excellent. My first Lincoln, based on your advice. What a man. Thinking of Charnwood 60 pages, Guelzo’s epilogue and then Burlingame. I have read one of each prez starting with Washington. I’m thinking about broadening out to other major figures during the period from Revolutionary to Civil Wars and then on up the ladder. Have you done that; read Whitman or Irving for example, works by them of bios of?

August 21, 2018 at 11:46 am

What I haven’t done these past five years is read any non-fiction books other than presidential biographies. But I have been assembling a list of biographies of folks I encountered during this process who are, many times, as compelling as the presidents. My ever-evolving list of people & biographies is located under the “What’s Next” tab at the top of the page… If you have thoughts/suggestions for who I’ve missed, let me know.

August 21, 2018 at 12:10 pm

Thanks for the reference to “What’s Next”. I’ll look. Halfway through Charnwood as of last night and you are right, it is a great short history of early America, especially remarkable as seen through the eyes of an englishman. Stopping at Lincoln and the Civil War seems a perfect point of reference to review and reassess the origin and evolution of America.

August 21, 2018 at 4:33 pm

i’d just suggest the major cultural figures for the arts, science, philosophy and business. Looks like you have a good list going in that direction.

April 4, 2019 at 6:59 pm

Dear Steve, I have read a lot of Lincoln biographies, including most of those on your list. However I keep coming back to Life of Lincoln by William Herndon, his old law partner and friend, and Jesse Weik, published in 1888. I found this first-person account thorough, anecdotal and charming. Indeed Herndon was widely criticized for the informality of his book as Lincoln was by then being widely mythologized. If you’ve read it I would welcome your comment. Marc Mishkin Lakewood, Colorado

April 5, 2019 at 5:08 am

Marc, I haven’t yet read it but it is definitely on my “follow-up” list – along with the series by Hay & Nicolay! I haven’t heard from very many people who’ve read it, so I’m delighted to hear you recommend it so highly. Lincoln has probably been my favorite president from a biographical perspective so I’m looking forward to read about him from some of his contemporaries.

June 15, 2019 at 12:41 pm

Thanks for this info. Would you have any thoughts on “Lincoln-a life of power & purpose” by Carwardine?

June 16, 2019 at 12:09 pm

Sorry, I haven’t read that one. But I’ll be interested to see if anyone who has can share their thoughts-

April 1, 2020 at 8:59 pm

Man, I really would love to dive into Michael Burlingame’s series. I emailed him about the differences between the uncut version and the print version. His answer was that it was a “fuller” version with footnotes. I wasn’t sure if by fuller he meant extra narrative text i.e. dvd deleted scenes or just footnotes included. I’d prefer reading the print version but feel as if I’d miss extra detail. For those that have read the uncut let me know.

July 4, 2020 at 11:05 am

Steve; Rarely do you fail to mention a significant presidential biography, but I noticed you did not mention this highly-praised Lincoln Prize Winner from 2003: Lincoln, A Life of Purpose and Power, by Richard Carwardine. I have been trying to get back to reading the book, which has been on my shelf for at least the past decade. I have perused enough of it to advise it is a VERY serious scholarly book.

“Carwardine combines a new perspective with a compelling narrative to deliver a fresh look at one of the pillars of American politics. He probes the sources of Lincoln’s moral and political philosophy and uses his groundbreaking research to cut through the myth and expose the man behind it.”

August 6, 2020 at 1:45 pm

Steve: I am trying to understand what Lincoln’s thinking was concerning refusing to let the South secede at the start of the Civil War. Specifically, if not abolishing slavery but saving the Union was Lincoln’s initial motivation, then why was preserving the Union so vital to him that he was willing to have the nation fight over it. Which biographies that you’ve read deals most deeply into this issue?

August 7, 2020 at 10:32 am

I have to be honest – too much time has elapsed for me to remember that specifically, but what I can tell you is that you ought to find the free, online version of Michael Burlingame’s series (the online version is much longer than his printed two-volume series) and see if it suits your need. I’ll be somewhat surprised if it doesn’t (since it’s so detailed)…

August 30, 2020 at 6:46 pm

For those who love historical novels, Gore Vidal’s “Lincoln”, and William Saffire’s “Freedom” are enjoyable reads.

December 11, 2020 at 5:34 pm

Any comments on Life of Lincoln-Phebe A. Hannaford 1883-Belford, Clarke & Co Chicago

December 11, 2020 at 5:56 pm

I haven’t read it. As I recall it is hard to find copies and it was less a biography than a series of essays or character sketches. If you’ve read it I would love to know what you thought-

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May 30, 2021 at 7:26 am

Among the most enjoyable Lincoln books are William Lee Miller’s two volume bio: “Lincoln’s Virtues” and “President Lincoln”. Both these books are highly laudatory (as are most books about Lincoln) and Lincoln’s Virtues particularly looks at Lincoln’s rise from 1854-1860 very closely. Miller is an engaging writer who looks at the 1850’s arguments over slavery from various angles, concluding that Lincoln was a skillful politician who artfully expressed views on slavery that were both radical and politically viable. Miller, who also wrote “Arguing About Slavery”, a book about the gag rule that focused on J. Q. Adams attack on it, is obviously quite steeped in the national argument that resulted in the Civil War.

I totally agreed with the commenter above who touts Carwardine’s short one volume book on Lincoln. For someone who doesn’t really have a lot of time to read biography this is the best one volume to get at the heart of who Lincoln was and is beautifully written.

Lastly (and believe me, I could go on), I would recommend Giants, a dual biography of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass by John Stauffer. These two men are my favorite figures in American history and this book shows why they had such an affinity towards each other: both autodidacts who insisted on following their own judgement while maintaining a keen ear for the political realities of their times. A very enjoyable read.

None of this is to downplay the amazing accomplishment of Mr. Lloyd in reading so many presidential biographies and then writing well written and helpful reviews about each one. This is a major accomplishment. I just wanted to make sure that folks knew about these books.

January 29, 2022 at 4:50 pm

Thank you about your review. I will choose David Hebert book 🙂 I’m also interested about American Civil War. Can you indicate a book?

January 29, 2022 at 4:53 pm

Good luck and happy reading! I think you’ll like the David Herbert Donald book.

Since I read so many biographies of Abraham Lincoln (and Ulysses S. Grant) I haven’t felt the need – and haven’t really had the time – to read a book or series dedicated to the Civil War. But I do own, and intend one day to read, the famous three-volume series by Shelby Foote . It might be a bit more than you want to tackle, but it’s what I plan to read at some point.

January 24, 2023 at 4:49 pm

Battle Cry of Freedom, by James McPherson, is an incredible one-volume work on the Civil War and a Pulitzer Prize winner. I highly recommend it if you are still interested in that topic.

February 3, 2022 at 6:14 pm

Lincoln and Garfield are my two favorite presidents to research. I don’t see it mentioned, but one of the books I have enjoyed the most is, “Lincoln’s White House: The People’s House in Wartime”, by James B. Conroy. I’ve read it twice even though I have a full library of books I am overdue to read. Hope you get the chance to check it out.

February 4, 2022 at 5:07 am

Your mission was successful: I’m checking it out! It’s not clear to me that it will be “enough” biography to really fall under my mission on this site, but it looks interesting enough that I’ve got in on order and can’t wait for it to arrive!

October 22, 2022 at 11:24 am

Just wanted you to know how much I’ve enjoyed your website over the years. If I’m at a book store and come across a presidential bio I have not read before, I always pull up your site to see if you have reviewed it and if so, what you thought. I’m currently writing my dissertation on President Lincoln’s view of human dignity and I’m sure I’ll be hopping over here frequently to get a survey of your thoughts as I am working. Thank you!

October 22, 2022 at 1:02 pm

Thanks for your note, and I’m a little bit jealous you get to spend so much time with Lincoln! (But…only a little bit jealous as the thought of writing a dissertation right now might make me break out in hives). I’m curious what the most helpful sources have been so far for you – books, journal articles, correspondence, etc, or whether it can’t really be narrowed down as everything is potentially a source of insight?

January 9, 2023 at 1:00 pm

What about Harry Jaffa’s Crisis of the House Divided? It’s the finest intellectual biography of Lincoln – and perhaps of any President – I have read.

January 10, 2023 at 5:29 am

I looked at this a while back and concluded it was too narrowly focused to read as part of my early effort, but it does seem like an interesting “intellectual” analysis of the Lincoln-Douglas debates which I should probably get to at some point.

January 10, 2023 at 7:30 am

Yes, I would strongly encourage you to read it! Otherwise, I love your presidential biographies ratings. I got a lot out of them.

January 24, 2023 at 4:51 pm

Time to add Jon Meacham’s “And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle” to your follow-up list for Lincoln.

January 25, 2023 at 8:08 am

Yes, I’ve got it on my short list but haven’t gotten around to formally adding it to the master list. I need to do that. Now that he’s got this Lincoln book out of the way perhaps Meacham can get back to James and Dolley Madison?!? 🙂

June 9, 2023 at 1:00 am

Fantastic compilation and great work as always! As a lover of all things Lincoln, I have thoroughly enjoyed your list here. I would be remiss to not bring up one of my favorite books on Lincoln which I sadly did not see on your list: Dale Carnegie’s Lincoln the Unknown. If you have not already read or considered it, I humbly recommend it. A short biography, Carnegie’s book is supremely readable and carries an old-school, endearing charm to it. Its best quality is that it manages to efficiently capture the magic of Lincoln’s character–and what made him a good person–in a way that sometimes can get lost in a lot of the other more verbose biographies. It is both enlightening, heartwarming, inspiring in good measure, and I recommend it as the first book to anyone wanting to learn more about Lincoln’s character. If you do consider it, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to learning!

Karna Patel

June 10, 2023 at 5:14 am

Thanks so much for the recommendation! I looked back at my notes and it seems I skipped this one b/c I already had a long list of Lincoln bios and Carnegie’s seemed a bit short. I’ll have to take another look! (And there can never be too many biographies of Lincoln, can there?!?)

July 1, 2023 at 8:43 pm

In looking over your blog (which is excellent, by the way) I noticed you mention Ida M. Tarbell. That got my attention as I am in the process of writing a full biography of Tarbell. While her book is obviously much older than many, it still has a great deal of value. Especially her “In the Footsteps of the Lincolns” which started as newspaper columns and then became a book.

Of course, Tarbell is best known for her expose on John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, but she often said that she most enjoyed working on Lincoln. “He was the only man I could spend five years with and never be bored,” she once said. My book will focus on all aspects of Tarbell’s life, but especially her work on Lincoln.

Keep up the good work!

January 2, 2024 at 1:09 pm

I just saw that Michael Burlingame released an abridged, single-volume edition of his work in October of 2023. Curious if that will address some of the issues you highlighted in your review.

January 2, 2024 at 7:55 pm

I think it’s interesting that Burlingame was not the person who did the editing or abridgement. It was done by another professor named Jonathan White.

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Best Books About Abraham Lincoln

It is often said that more words have been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other person in history, except for Jesus and Shakespeare. This is especially true when it comes to books about Abraham Lincoln.

In fact, according to an article in the New York Times, no one knows exactly how many books about Lincoln have been published.

Yet, some people have ventured to guess, such as one prominent book collector who estimates there have been at least 7,000 books published on Lincoln. Yet, Bookmarks Magazine reports a much higher number of at least 16,000 books.

With so many books to choose from it can be hard to know which books to read or where to start. That’s why I’ve compiled a short list of some of the best books about Abraham Lincoln.

Keep in mind, these aren’t the only Lincoln books that you should read, but if your time and/or money is limited, these are definitely the must-read Lincoln books.

The books listed here are best-sellers on the topic, have received great reviews from critics and historians, have won numerous literary awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize and the Lincoln Award, and have great reviews on sites like Amazon and Goodreads.

The following is a list of the best books about Abraham Lincoln:

(Disclaimer: This article contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Published in 1995, the book chronicles Lincoln’s slow and gradual climb from a rural rail splitter to President of the United States.

The book not only highlights the events of Lincoln’s life but also the development of Lincoln’s personality and character and, in doing so, explores what made it possible for someone so inexperienced and unprepared to become the great leader that he did.

While many Lincoln biographies also discuss the events of the Civil War , the economic and social issues of the time and the general history of the 19th century, this book focuses exclusively on Lincoln himself, his actions, attitude and etc. The book has been described by many critics as the quintessential Lincoln biography.

Geoffrey C. West reviewed the book for the New York Times and described it as compelling and well-researched:

“But Mr. Donald’s ‘Lincoln’ is so lucid and richly researched, so careful and compelling, that it is hard to imagine a more satisfying life of our most admired and least understood President, at least for the foreseeable future…Mr. Donald’s life of Lincoln is different and therefore more rewarding; it unrolls, as Lincoln’s real life did, as a series of abrupt twists and turns, triumphs and setbacks, after any one of which, had he made the wrong choice, he would never have had his chance at greatness.”

Historynet.com declared the book “the finest single volume on Lincoln’s life yet attempted, a work that is a monumental achievement in scholarship…Donald’s Lincoln will undoubtedly displace popular Lincoln biographies by Benjamin P. Thomas and Stephen B. Oates as the definitive modern study.”

The website BestPresidentialBios.com says that although they are not sure if the book is the best single-volume biography ever written on Abraham Lincoln that many critics claim it is, the site does state that it “is nevertheless extremely meritorious.”

David Herbert Donald, who died in 2009, was a history author who wrote numerous books about Lincoln such as Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era; We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends; and Lincoln at Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincolns Family Life.

Donald won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for his book Charles Sumner and the Coming War and won the Pulitzer Prize again in 1988 for his book Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe. Donald was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and won the Order of Lincoln award from the State of Illinois in 2008.

Published in 2005, this best-selling book discusses Lincoln’s presidential cabinet, which was made up of Lincoln’s former political rivals, and explores how they helped shape one of the most significant presidencies in American history.

The heart of the book is about how Lincoln persuaded his former rivals to let go of their grudges against him and become his allies in order to fight for the greater good of the country, as Goodwin explains in the introduction:

“This, then, is a story of Lincoln’s political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enabled him to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him; to repair injured feelings that, left unattended, might have escalated into permanent hostility; to assume responsibility for the failures of subordinates; to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes.”

Fellow Lincoln biographer, James McPherson, reviewed the book for the New York Times Book Review and praised it as “An elegant, incisive study….Goodwin has brilliantly described how Lincoln forged a team that preserved a nation and freed America from the curse of slavery.”

Jay Winik, of the Wall Street Journal, also reviewed the book and said it was “Endlessly absorbing….[A] lovingly rendered and masterfully fashioned book” while John Rhodehamel, of the Los Angeles Times, declared it “Splendid, beautifully written….Goodwin has brilliantly woven scores of contemporary accounts…into a fluid narrative….This is the most richly detailed account of the Civil War presidency to appear in many years.”

Publisher’s Weekly had a more lukewarm review of the book, stating:

“Goodwin seeks to illuminate what she interprets as a miraculous event: Lincoln’s smooth (and, in her view, rather sudden) transition from underwhelming one-term congressman and prairie lawyer to robust chief executive during a time of crisis…Goodwin’s spotlighting of the president’s three former rivals tends to undercut that Lincoln’s most essential Cabinet-level contacts were not with Seward, Chase and Bates, but rather with secretaries of war Simon Cameron and Edwin Stanton, and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. These criticisms aside, Goodwin supplies capable biographies of the gentlemen on whom she has chosen to focus, and ably highlights the sometimes tangled dynamics of their ‘team’ within the larger assemblage of Lincoln’s full war cabinet.”

Many readers and critics point out that, at 944 pages long, the book is quite detailed and is sometimes overwhelming and hard to read, yet it is very thorough and well researched.

Goodwin is a political commentator and Pulitzer-prize winning author who has written many highly acclaimed books about U.S. presidents including Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream; The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga; and No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.

Goodwin earned a PhD in government from Harvard University in 1968 and worked as a White House staff member during the Johnson administration. She later taught government, including a course on the American presidency, at Harvard for 10 years.

Goodwin won the Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time in 1995 and won the Lincoln Prize and the American History Book Prize for Team of Rivals in 2005. Goodwin is also a member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission advisory board.

Published in 2009, this New York Times best-seller discusses the personal, political and moral evolution of Abraham Lincoln. White argues that Lincoln is a man of intellectual curiosity who is comfortable with ambiguity and is not afraid to think outside the box.

The book differs from many other Lincoln biographies because it argues that Lincoln wasn’t the inexperienced, unknown country lawyer that many historians depict him as and argues instead that he was an experienced politician who was popular throughout his home state of Illinois and was actually well known to national leaders.

History writer David W. Blight reviewed the book for the Washington Post and said it was a well-researched book and one of the best new books on the former president:

“How daunting it must be for any biographer to take on Lincoln’s life in this crowded literary marketplace! But this thoroughly researched book belongs on the A-list of major biographies of the tall Illinoisan; it’s a worthy companion for all who admire Lincoln’s prose and his ability to see into, and explain, America’s greatest crisis.”

The book was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Christian-Science Monitor and the St. Louis Dispatch.

White is an author who has written numerous books about Abraham Lincoln, such as Lincoln’s Greatest Speeches and The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words, as well as number of other books on American history.

Published in 1901, the book is a unique firsthand account of the life of Abraham Lincoln written by a Union general who knew Lincoln well.

In the preface for the book, Ketcham states that although there were already many biographies about Lincoln by 1901, he felt compelled to write his book because he worried that without a firsthand perspective, he felt Lincoln’s legacy would be tarnished by secondhand stories and mistruths:

“It cannot be expected that a person born after the year (say) 1855, could remember Lincoln more than as a name. Such an one’s idea are made up not from his rememberance and appreciation of events as they occurred, but from what he has read and heard about them in subsequent years.”

Bookpedia.com calls the book an enjoyable read that relies heavily on personal accounts to show a more human side of Lincoln:

“The reading takes on an extended story-telling fireside chat feeling, where you know and trust the storyteller – who happens to know the kinds of things you would be interested in knowing. An excellent read…Interestingly narrated as an admirer of his life from a first hand experience.”

John Henry Ketcham, who died in 1906, was a U.S. Representative from New York and a Union General during the Civil War.

Published in 2009, the book chronicles the events of Abraham Lincoln’s life from his childhood to his presidency and also discusses Lincoln’s legacy and why he remains so popular hundreds of years later.

The book, which is less than 100 pages long, is intended to be a stripped-down, minimalist narrative of Lincoln’s life and his achievements.

In the book’s brief preface, McPherson explains that he decided to write his book because he felt that most of the Lincoln biographies published to date are too complicated and wordy:

“Most of these are substantial works; one definitive multivolume biography runs well over a half million words. Amid this cascade of information, I believe there is room for a brief biography that captures the essential events and meaning of Lincoln’s life without oversimplification or overgeneralization.”

Fellow Lincoln writers David Herbert Donald and Ronald C. White both reviewed the book and recommended it wholeheartedly. Herbert complimented the book’s concise narrative:

“A gem. Beautifully written, it is clear, concise, and correct. This is the best, very brief, biography of our sixteenth president ever written.”

While White was impressed by McPherson’s writing style:

“Abraham Lincoln at last has found his best short biography. Jim McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian, brings his vast knowledge and lucid writing to an illumination of the life of America’s most revered President. McPherson touches more Lincoln bases than any reader might reasonably expect, winning a well-deserved accolade that less is truly more.”

James McPherson is a Professor Emeritus of American History at Princeton University. He was president of the American Historical Association in 2003 and is a member of the editorial board of Encyclopedia Britannica.

McPherson has written numerous books about the Civil War such as Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War era; Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution; For Causes and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War; and Crossroads of Freedom. McPherson won the Pulitzer-prize for Battle Cry of Freedom and also won the Lincoln Prize for For Causes and Comrades.

Published in 1992, this Pulitzer-Prize winning book discusses Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address and the impact it had. Wills does this by analyzing the rhetoric of the speech, which he argues was so revolutionary that it changed political speech writing forever and, as a result, “all modern political prose descends from the Gettysburg Address.”

The book argues that the speech was far ahead of its time because it justified equal rights for African-Americans on the basis of the Declaration of Independence, instead of the Constitution (which didn’t even mention equal rights until it was amended after the war.)

In doing so, Wills argues that Lincoln saw the Civil War as a battle for equal rights for African-Americans and states that his famous speech eventually paved the way for the 14th amendment, which granted citizenship to everyone born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves.

William McFeely, in his review of the book in The New York Times, was struck by its attention to the details of the speech:

“Mr. Wills is deadly serious about words. Perhaps the most striking element of this book is its intricate analysis of the rhetorical structure of the address. It is here that Lincoln is credited with achieving a ‘revolution in style.'”

Commentary Magazine also praised the book’s attention to detail and said the book solidifies Lincoln’s status as one of the greatest orators and statesmen in American history:

“The point of the book (itself a rhetorical tour de force) is to demonstrate that Lincoln was a brilliant rhetorician. That point has been made before, but never with so much attention given to the structure of Lincoln’s major speeches. Lincoln, we know, had mastered the first six books of Euclid’s Elements, and had studied grammar (at a time when grammar was studied seriously), but Wills shows how he employed its tools—antithesis, for example, and anaphora and asyndeton—to maximum advantage in the Gettysburg Address. It is the greatest American speech, and Lincoln was our greatest speechmaker; Wills succeeds in confirming our judgment of that. Without intending to do so, however, he also confirms our judgment that Lincoln was our greatest statesman.”

Garry Wills is a Emeritus Professor of History at Northwestern University. Wills is a frequent reviewer for the New York Times Book Review and has written over 40 books about religion and history such as James Madison (The American President Series); “Negro President”: Jefferson and the Slave Power; Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self Made Man; and Henry Adams and the Making of America.

Wills won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Lincoln at Gettysburg in 1993. He also won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Merle Curti Award for his book Inventing America in 1978.

Wills was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and was awarded the Order of Lincoln by the Governor of Illinois in 2006.

Published in 2010, the book discusses Abraham Lincoln’s views on slavery and race throughout his political career.

The book explores why Lincoln’s views on these matters changed and evolved over time and why he sometimes contradicted himself on these issues.

As Foner explains in the preface, the book is not intended to be a biography of Lincoln’s life and solely focuses on Lincoln’s role in what was called the “antislavery enterprise” of the time period, explaining that Lincoln held a relatively moderate view on the issue.

In focusing on Lincoln’s politics, Foner explains that the reader can learn more about Lincoln himself as well as more about the Civil War-era in general:

“But I believe that casting a bright, concentrated light on Lincoln and the politics of slavery – with politics defined in the broadest sense, not simply as elections and office-holding but the shaping of opinion with the extended public sphere, can illuminate his life and his era in new ways.”

David S. Reynolds reviewed the book for The New York Times and praised it for its fresh, new perspective:

“Do we need yet another book on Lincoln?… Well, yes, we do if the book is by so richly informed a commentator as Eric Foner. Foner tackles what would seem to be an obvious topic, Lincoln and slavery, and manages to cast new light on it…. Because of his broad-ranging knowledge of the 19th century, Foner is able to provide the most thorough and judicious account of Lincoln’s attitudes toward slavery that we have.”

Fellow Lincoln biographer, James M. McPherson also reviewed the book and stated that “No one else has written about [Lincoln’s] trajectory of change with such balance, fairness, depth of analysis, and lucid precision of language.”

The Library Journal dubbed it “an essential work for all Americans. In the vast library on Lincoln, Foner’s book stands out as the most sensible and sensitive reading of Lincoln’s lifetime involvement with slavery and the most insightful assessment of Lincoln’s—and indeed America’s—imperative to move toward freedom lest it be lost.”

David M. Shribman, reviewed the book for the Boston Globe and said it was “a masterwork that examines Lincoln’s passage to Gettysburg and beyond.”

Another fellow Lincoln author, Fred Kaplan, wrote a negative review of the book for the Washington Post and argued that Foner merely created a thesis to fit his narrative:

“Foner’s justification for The Fiery Trial is that ‘there is value in tracing Lincoln’s growth, as it were, forward.’ ‘As it were’ reveals a nice hesitancy or qualification that the book as a whole doesn’t maintain. Foner’s basic claim is at least an exaggeration, if not wrong. A stronger argument can be made that Lincoln hardly ‘grew at all on the issue of slavery, that he responded to changing circumstances that he did not create and that brought him into a public role in which he could not avoid taking the positions that led to the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment. But Foner’s narrative almost requires that his main character develop morally. The Fiery Trial maintains this thesis despite the facts that it narrates.”

The only positive thing that Kaplan had to say about the book is that it was essentially a comprehensive record of all the previous books and sources on Lincoln and slavery, making it a basic reference guide on the topic: “this will now be the book of first convenience to go to on the subject.”

Eric Foner is a history professor at Columbia University. Foner was elected president of the American Historical Association in 2001.

Foner has written many books about Lincoln as well as the Civil War such as Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World; Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad; and A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln.

Foner won the Pulitzer-Prize, the Bancroft Prize and the Lincoln Prize for the Fiery Trial in 2011 and the book was named Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times.

Originally published as six volumes in the 1930s, the book chronicles the events of Abraham Lincoln’s life starting from his early years and continuing to his presidency and assassination.

The books, which originally consisted of a two volume book titled Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and a four volume book titled Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, were later condensed into one volume. The Prairie Years covers Lincoln’s early life up until 1850 and the War Years covers the second half of his life up to his assassination.

As Sandburg explains in the preface, he knew Civil War veterans as a young child and often listened to the stories of men who knew Lincoln personally.

Upon hearing these stories, he became fascinated with Lincoln and decided to write a biography about Lincoln’s time as a country lawyer in the midwest. After writing the book, Sandburg discovered Lincoln had grown on him so much that he decided to write another book about him which then led to even more books.

The books were well received by critics and the public alike when they were published and became instant classics on the subject. Upon publication of the War Years in 1939, the New Republic Magazine reviewed it and said no other historical book could compare:

“With these four volumes Carl Sandburg completes the life of Lincoln begun in “The Prairie Years.” Taking the total achievement, there is nothing in historical literature that I know quite comparable with it.”

The website BestPresidentialbios.com says although the book is very good, the first volume, the Prairie Years doesn’t quite hold up for modern readers:

“Overall, Carl Sandburg’s ‘The Prairie Years’ is a fascinating and enjoyable cultural and literary experience, even if disappointing from a historical perspective. For many reasons it is not ideal as an introduction to Abraham Lincoln for the modern reader seeking a comprehensive, detailed and historically potent account of his life. But as a second or third source, designed to add splashes of color and flavor unavailable elsewhere, Sandburg’s work on Lincoln’s early years is quite well-suited.”

The website’s review of the War Years explains that although it is “a jewel of American history” and is “impressive in scope” it is so dense and detailed that it is a bit overwhelming at times, which might explain why the books were eventually condensed into a single volume, to make it more accessible to modern readers.

The original six volume editions are now out of print but used copies and reprints can still be purchased on Amazon and other websites.

Carl Sandburg, who died in 1967, was a poet, editor and author. Sandburg wrote many notable volumes of poetry, such as Chicago Poems and The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg as well as children’s books.

Sandburg won the Pulitzer Prize for his book of poems The Completed Poems of Carl Sandburg in 1951 and won the Pulitzer Prize for history for his book Abraham Lincoln: The War Years in 1940.

Published in 1977, the book chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln from birth to death. Oates explained in the preface of his book, that while writing the book he became completely absorbed in Lincoln’s daily life and hoped his readers experienced the same feeling:

“I hope that my readers have a similar sensation when they put the book down. If I have done my job properly as a biographer, they will willingly suspend their knowledge of how the story ends and allow my narrative to transport them back into Lincoln’s world, where they can walk with him as his life unfolds, sharing in his humanity.”

The book became entangled in controversy in 1990 when Oates was accused of plagiarizing passages of Benjamin Thomas’ 1952 biography of Lincoln. Oates issued a rebuttal, as he states in the preface of an updated version of his book:

“After studying the allegations, I issued a public rebuttal, pointing out that Lincoln literature consists of a common body of knowledge about him, particularly his well-known early years, that has accumulated for more than a century and is in the public domain. If there are similarities between my book and Thomas’s, I said, it is because both biographies draw from that common ‘text’ or body of writing and information…In writing With Malice Toward None, to borrow Potter’s words, I took the ‘bits and pieces’ of the Lincoln biographical tradition and tried to weave it into a ‘new discourse.’”

Oates was later cleared of the plagiarism charges by the American Historical Association.

The book was well received by critics when it was published. The Chicago Tribune declared it “a superb biography” and the Washington Post said it was “The standard one-volume biography of Lincoln.” The Boston Globe said the book has been “Hailed as the best one-volume biography of Lincoln.”

According to the website PresidentialBios.com, when the book was published, it became the best Lincoln biography to date and held that title for decades until Donald’s biography was published in the 90s:

“Oates’s biography was the first comprehensive treatment of Lincoln in nearly two decades. Critically hailed, it quickly gained a reputation as ‘the’ standard Lincoln biography, replacing Benjamin Thomas’s 1952 biography in that role. Not until David Herbert Donald’s universally acclaimed ‘Lincoln’ was published in 1995 did Oates’s biography relinquish its prominence.”

Stephen B. Oates is a former history professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is considered an expert on 19th century history. Oates wrote 16 history books, many of them about 19th and 20th century history, such as Let the Trumpet Soar: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr; Woman of Valor: Clara Barton of the Civil War; and the Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861.

Published in 1952, the book details the events of Abraham Lincoln’s life from his early life to his presidency.

Instead of idolizing Lincoln, the book portrays him as a balanced individual with the conviction and inner strength to lead the country.

In the preface of the book, Thomas explains that he wrote the biography because there weren’t any reliable one-volume books on Lincoln at the time:

“There has been no accurate, readable, one-volume biography for the Lincoln beginner, for the person who can devote only a small portion of his time learning about Lincoln, or for the high-school teacher or college professor who wishes to include a reasonably short life of Lincoln on his student’s reading list…So it is my hope that this book will fill a long-felt want. It is intended primarily for the reading public rather than for the expert, though I hope that the experts will approve of it. And I believe that even they will discover that it offers new interpretations and reveal many unknown facts.”

In the book’s forward, fellow Lincoln author, Michael Burlingame, wrote that he still considers Thomas’ book to be the best single-volume book on Lincoln despite all of the new biographies that have been published since:

“Published over a half a century ago, Benjamin P. Thomas’s Abraham Lincoln: A Biography remains the best single-volume life of the sixteenth president. The only other serious contender for that designation is David Herbert Donald’s 1995 biography, but as critic Jonathan Yardley rightly noted, ‘in no significant way does Donald’s Lincoln supplant Benjamin Thomas’s.’ In Yardley’s view, the Thomas biography is ‘the definitive work’ for readers ‘looking for Lincoln at once in full and brief.’ Prominent historians share Yardley’s enthusiasm. In 1999, Allen C. Guelzo, two-time winner of the prestigious Lincoln Prize and author of Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President; Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America; and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, described Thomas’s Lincoln as ‘the finest one-volume survey biography’ of the sixteenth president. Mark E. Neely, Jr., who won the Pulitzer Prize for his monograph The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties, deemed Thomas’s book ‘wonderful,’ a ‘masterpiece,’ an ‘elegant and balanced synthesis’ resting on ‘the best research’ and written in a ‘fluid and readable style.’”

Benjamin Thomas, who died in 1956, was a history professor at Birmingham-Southern College and the author of multiple books about Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: A Biography; Lincoln, 1847–1853: Being the Day-by-Day Activities of Abraham Lincoln from January 1, 1847; Lincoln’s New Salem; and Portrait of Posterity: Lincoln and His Biographers. Thomas also served as the director and then treasurer of the Abraham Lincoln Association in 1939 and 1942.

Additional Reading: ♠ Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Volume One and Two by Michael Burlingame ♠ Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan ♠ Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volumes 1-10 by John M. Hay and John George Nicolay ♠ Abraham Lincoln: an Essay by Carl Schurz ♠ The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Volumes One & Two by Ida M. Tarbell

Sources: Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association: Benjamin P. Thomas: quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0019.204/–benjamin-p-thomas?rgn=main;view=fulltext Best Presidential Bios: Review of Abraham Lincoln: A Biography by Benjamin Thomas: bestpresidentialbios.com/2014/04/14/review-of-abraham-lincoln-a-biography-by-benjamin-thomas/ New York Times; Call Him Elequent Abe, the Writer in Chief; Michiko Kakutani; November 2008: nytimes.com/2008/11/07/books/07book.html Chicago Tribune; Controversy Hits Accuser and Accused; Patrick T. Reardon; December 1990: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-12-11/news/9004120516_1_lincoln-scholar-plagiarism-stephen-b-oates Best Presidential Bios: Review of Abraham Lincoln: The War Years by Carl Sandburg: bestpresidentialbios.com/2014/05/24/review-of-abraham-lincoln-the-war-years-by-carl-sandburg/ New Republic; Lincolns as War Leader; Max Lerner; December 1939: newrepublic.com/article/80144/carl-sandburg-abraham-lincoln-war-leader Washington Post; Eric Foner’s Book on Lincoln and Slavery, Reviewed by Fred Kaplan; November 2010: washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/28/AR2010112802826.html New York Times; Learning to be Lincoln; David S. Reynolds; September 2010: Commentary Magazine; Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills; Walter Berns; November 1992: commentarymagazine.com/articles/lincoln-at-gettysburg-by-garry-wills/ New York Times; How We Were Created Equal; William McFreely; June 1992: nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/wills-lincoln.html Washington Post; Abe the Intellectual; David W. Blight; February 2009: washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020503121.html Best Presidential Bios: Review of Lincoln by David Herbert Donald: bestpresidentialbios.com/2014/03/29/review-of-lincoln-by-david-herbert-donald/ History Net: Book Review: Lincoln (David Herbert Donald): historynet.com/book-review-lincoln-david-herbert-donald-cwt.htm New York Times; Before He Became a Saint; Geoffrey C. Ward; October 1995: nytimes.com/1995/10/22/books/before-he-became-a-saint.html?pagewanted=all History.net: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Book Review):historynet.com/team-of-rivals-the-political-genius-of-abraham-lincoln-book-review.htm New York Times: ‘Team of Rivals’ Friends of Abe by James McPherson: nytimes.com/2005/11/06/books/review/team-of-rivals-friends-of-abe.html?_r=0 Business Insider; There Are About 15,000 Books on Abraham Lincoln – Here Are 7 You Should Read: businessinsider.com/best-books-on-abraham-lincoln-2015-2

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Thanks for this list! Reading Donald’s book right now, and have a couple of the others on my “reading list,” but here are some others I was unaware of. FWIW, your post reminded me of this wonderful Lincoln “monument” in DC. The photos, while impressive, just can’t quite do it justice, It must be seen in person to truly appreciate it: atlasobscura.com/places/lincoln-book-tower

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The 25 best books about Abraham Lincoln

At least 15,000 books have been written about Abraham Lincoln , the 16th president of the United States. If you wish to learn about the man who led the North during the American Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 then you are not going to be restricted by choice. (AbeBooks alone has more than 67,000 copies of books with ‘Abraham Lincoln’ in the title).

No-one knows exactly how many books have been written about Honest Abe but in 2012 Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership in Washington DC constructed a 34-foot pillar of unique titles about Lincoln and it contained more than 15,000 books.

Books have been written about his childhood, his politics, his wartime leadership, his married life, his death, his speeches, his generals and admirals, his writing, his mental health and his legal career. There are biographies, history books, picture books, children’s books and fictional novels based on his life.

In recent years, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin has received a great deal of attention. In 2008, the then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama declared, if elected, he would want “a team of rivals” in his Cabinet. “I don’t want to have people who just agree with me. I want people who are continually pushing me out of my comfort zone,” he told Time Magazine. Obama, a keen reader, acknowledged the influence of Goodwin's book several times as he campaigned to become president.

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald, published in 1996, is also widely acknowledged as one of the better biographies of the man. Manhunt by James L. Swanson is a very readable book about the murder of the president, the motives of his killer John Wilkes Booth and the desperate manhunt over 12 days.

If you want to completely shake up history, then Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith might appeal (and that’s fiction by the way). Gore Vidal also wrote a historical novel about the man.

The best books about Abraham Lincoln

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Abraham Lincoln: Breaking Down the Myth of a Perfect President

Fred kaplan on the antislavery moralist who distrusted abolitionism.

Our 16th president is often either vilified or deified, his great strengths exaggerated, his flaws minimized or disregarded. Since the assassination that transformed him into a martyr, it has been nearly impossible to see Lincoln plain, almost as difficult as Robert Browning remarked it was to see “Shelley plain,” the Romantic poet whose early death had made him a legend rather than a man.

Lincoln was of course born into a world that shaped him. He was not originally a mythologized face on Mount Rushmore, the perfect president who freed the slaves and saved the Union. He was in no rush to free any slaves at all. He believed the slave problem would best be solved by voluntary deportation, known as colonization. One of the legacies of emancipation would, he feared, be a hundred years or more of volatile racism. As a minority president, he found himself backed into a corner by secession, a corner from which he reluctantly took the Union to war to save it. The South started the war to save slavery. The North fought it to keep the Union intact. Like many Americans, Lincoln believed the war would be short. He never imagined it would be as devastatingly long as it turned out to be. The South would, he hoped, relent, or its armies be defeated quickly. Slow to realize no peaceful solution or wartime compromise possible, he stumbled in his choice of strategies, mostly because he misjudged the South, partly because of his ameliorative personality.

Lincoln had no specific plan for postwar reconstruction and national reunification. Whatever he may have attempted if he had lived was likely to have been no more successful, however, than what followed his death. Southern racism was too deeply entrenched ever to have acquiesced in civil rights for blacks without bitter resistance. It’s unlikely that if Lincoln had not been assassinated, America’s racial history would have been a better one. The conflict between state sovereignty and federal authority, differing interpretations of the Constitution, and the belief, deeply embedded in white America’s psyche and laws, that the United States was exclusively a white man’s country would have persisted, regardless of Lincoln’s longevity.

Early in the 19th century, John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, had become convinced that slavery would destroy the Union. Slavery would be ended, he came to believe, only through a civil war. The emancipation schemes his contemporaries proposed, including voluntary immigration of free blacks and emancipated slaves to a nation of their own, seemed to him impractical and unjust. He refused to support the American Colonization Society. Lincoln, who also abhorred slavery as a moral crime, put all his hopes in the Colonization Society. Adams thought it absurd to suppose that free blacks would immigrate voluntarily to Africa or that slave owners would ever cooperate in emancipation. Convinced that slavery would not be the rock against which the nation split, Lincoln believed the South would not succumb to the folly of secession. Adams knew the Southern mind better, having observed its uncompromising, quasi-violent character day after day in Congress from 1833 to 1848. By temperament and willful self-delusion, Lincoln hoped (until the reality was forced upon him) that good sense and the “better angels of our nature” would prevail. Over time, slavery would be eliminated peacefully. Adams never believed that possible. There were no “better angels.”

“ One of the legacies of emancipation would, [Lincoln] feared, be a hundred years or more of volatile racism.”

As political philosophers, these two presidents, our most literate, forward-looking statesmen of the 19th century, held similar views about how to guide America toward a prosperous future. Both belonged to the Whig Party that existed from 1832 to 1856. At first a Federalist, then a National Republican, Adams, after 1832, aligned himself with the segment of the National Republicans that morphed into the Whig Party. Yet he always kept his distance from whatever party he had an association with. At heart, he detested parties and party politics. Lincoln was always a party man, at first a Whig and then one of the Republican Party’s leading founding members. Adams worked mostly from the outside, by personality outspoken and a radical; Lincoln from inside, a consensus politician who met his destiny when conciliation was no longer possible. On matters of policy (a national bank, paper money, trade, education, infrastructure, manufacturing, and the proper balance between federal and state power), they were, with the exception of how to deal with slavery, entirely in agreement.

The why and how of that exception illuminate much about Lincoln and the crosscurrents of his life and times. Both Adams and Lincoln were antislavery moralists. Lincoln, unlike Adams, never became an antislavery activist, even when a brutal civil war forced him to take action against slavery. Adams envisioned a multiracial America as inevitable. Long before his death he became deeply sympathetic to abolitionists and abolitionism. Lincoln distrusted abolitionism. Though he believed slavery a moral abomination incompatible with American principles, and looked toward its eventual elimination, he desired that all blacks residing in the United States immigrate to a land of their own. He worried that the attempt of the two races to occupy the same country would lead to a century or more of racial conflict.

Different as they were by background and temperament, Lincoln and Adams had much in common. Both were masters of English prose, Adams in the classical style of the late 18th century into which he had been born, Lincoln in the colloquial style of common speech that became the hallmark of modern American prose. Though they diverged on the issue of antislavery activism, both had an abiding commitment to the dynamic interaction among literature, character formation, and public life. Lincoln and his favorite newspaper, his hometown Sangamo Journal , admired everything about Adams except his outspoken antislavery activism. Abolition and abolitionists were the third rail of national politics for Whig newspapers and politicians.

As a personality and writer, Adams had one foot in the 18th century; Lincoln, one foot in the 21st. In their own time and on slavery and racism, they meet, diverge, and illuminate each other. Surprisingly, on these issues, Adams is more a citizen of the 21st century than Lincoln. Their lives also overlapped. Congressman Lincoln was in the hall of the House of Representatives when, in February 1848, Congressman Adams suffered a fatal stroke. Interweaving their direct and indirect relationship, especially on the most controversial issue of the first half of the 19th century, reveals a dynamic relevant to our past and present. Mutually complementary, Adams and Lincoln, in their differences and similarities, represent the richness of the American experience and the complicated challenge of leading a divided country. They also, together, testify to the long-standing and complicated historical relationship between leadership and moral self-definition.

“ In April 1865, in Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln knew that he had saved the Union and ended slavery, but also that the racism underlying slavery was widespread and powerful.”

The achievements of Adams and Lincoln were immense. Yet the praise is better highlighted if the reality is honored. It demeans the man and his situation to simplify Lincoln. He was “the Great Emancipator” in a limited sense only. And by using a historically inaccurate wish fulfillment version of Lincoln, we make the burden heavier on other presidents, including candidates for the presidency in our own time. The mythologized, ahistorical Lincoln is an impossible standard. No one can measure up to it, not even Lincoln. He was a great president, despite his limited vision and his conciliatory politics; despite his inability to embrace some version of abolitionism; despite his fixation on colonization; despite his belief, almost to the end of his life, that America should remain a white man’s country; despite his mistakes as commander in chief, especially his attempt to bribe the South back into the Union and his counterproductive efforts to keep the border states from breaking away; and, most of all, despite his willingness to buy union at the cost of perpetuating slavery indefinitely.

Circumstances beyond Lincoln’s control determined a series of momentous events for him and the nation. They also determined the degree to which he could become an active agent of change. To his immense credit, when faced with disunion, he drew a number of practical and moral lines in the interest of which he was willing to take great risks. The first was the nonextension of slavery into the territories. Abolitionists could, understandably, think this so little as to be almost contemptible. But given who Lincoln was and what he faced politically, it was important enough to have significant consequences. The second was that military force was required to keep the Union intact. Faced with secession, he decided to resupply Fort Sumter, though there was reason to believe the Confederacy would respond with force, initiating armed conflict. And faced with the likelihood that the war would be prolonged excruciatingly or even lost, he at last, in 1863, decided on partial emancipation. And when he finally found the right generals and gave up his efforts to bribe the border states, he also discovered the courage, born of desperation, to commit himself to black manpower to strengthen his army and weaken the Confederacy.

For John Quincy Adams, all this would have seemed a recognition of the inevitable. For abolitionists such as Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and H. Ford Douglas, Lincoln’s journey toward the place they had long occupied seemed painfully slow. That he would not have arrived there had he not been forced by circumstances beyond his control to confront the abyss does not, however, detract from the courage it took to do it. White America had no desire to shed blood or pay money to emancipate slaves. Lincoln had to find ways, halting, difficult, and indirect as they were, to take white America down the road of what became total war and, eventually, total emancipation. At the end, he well knew that this extraordinary accomplishment had left the country with a damaging reality, an almost fatal wound: the difficulty of reconciliation between North and South, between anti-black racism and white America. Eight million bitterly resentful white Southerners would be forced to co-exist with four million ex-slaves whose freedom they deplored and whose liberators they detested.

The result: the failure of reconstruction; the virtual re-enslavement of most Southern blacks; Jim Crow; the civil rights movement; and the still existing post-Civil War hangover of widespread racial prejudice. In April 1865, in Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln knew that he had saved the Union and ended slavery, but also that the racism underlying slavery was widespread and powerful. When he died, he had no solution for this reality, and he knew that his beloved country had entered into a century and more of racial misery. The racism that he feared would dominate black-white relations, white America’s unwillingness to share power with what it believed to be an inferior race, would have characterized the United States even if he had remained president until March 1869: Jim Crow would still have become the new Southern reality; the North would eventually have looked the other way; the white knights of the Ku Klux Klan would have raised their torches as they rode, burning and lynching in the night; the march across the bridge at Selma would have been in America’s future; Ferguson and Dallas still would have happened. The racist alt-right and white nationalist movements would have arisen. I don’t think that this hypothetical Lincoln, melancholy and pessimistic by nature, leaving office after eight wearying years, would have been a happy man. Of course, happiness was not in his nature, but it was not in the historical reality, either.

__________________________________

From  Lincoln and the Abolitionists .  Used with permission of Harper Perennial. Copyright © 2018 by Fred Kaplan.

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Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, was born near Hodgenville, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. His family moved to Indiana when he was seven and he grew up on the edge of the frontier. He had very little formal education, but read voraciously when not working on his father’s farm.  A childhood friend later recalled Lincoln's "manic" intellect, and the sight of him red-eyed and tousle-haired as he pored over books late into the night.  In 1828, at the age of nineteen, he accompanied a produce-laden flatboat down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, Louisiana—his first visit to a large city--and then walked back home.  Two years later, trying to avoid health and finance troubles, Lincoln's father moved the family moved to Illinois.

After moving away from home, Lincoln co-owned a general store for several years before selling his stake and enlisting as a militia captain defending Illinois in the Black Hawk War of 1832.  Black Hawk, a Sauk chief, believed he had been swindled by a recent land deal and sought to resettle his old holdings.  Lincoln did not see direct combat during the short conflict, but the sight of corpse-strewn battlefields at Stillman's Run and Kellogg's Grove deeply affected him. As a captain, he developed a reputation for pragmatism and integrity.  Once, faced with a rail fence during practice maneuvers and forgetting the parade-ground instructions to direct his men over it, he simply ordered them to fall out and reassemble on the other side a minute later.  Another time, he stopped his men before they executed a wandering Native American as a spy.  Stepping in front of their raised muskets, Lincoln is said to have challenged his men to combat for the terrified native's life.  His men stood down.

After the war, he studied law and campaigned for a seat on the Illinois State Legislature. Although not elected in his first attempt, Lincoln persevered and won the position in 1834, serving as a Whig.

Abraham Lincoln met Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois where he was practicing as a lawyer. They were married in 1842 over her family’s objections and had four sons.  Only one lived to adulthood.  The deep melancholy that pervaded the Lincoln family, with occasional detours into outright madness, is in some ways sourced in their close relationship with death. 

Lincoln, a self-described "prairie lawyer," focused on his all-embracing law practice in the early 1850s after one term in Congress from 1847 to 1849. He joined the new Republican party—and the ongoing argument over sectionalism—in 1856. A series of heated debates in 1858 with Stephen A. Douglas , the sponsor of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act , over slavery and its place in the United States forged Lincoln into a prominent figure in national politics. Lincoln’s anti-slavery platform made him extremely unpopular with Southerners and his nomination for President in 1860 enraged them.

On November 6, 1860, Lincoln won the presidential election without the support of a single Southern state.  Talk of secession, bandied about since the 1830s, took on a serious new tone. The Civil War was not entirely caused by Lincoln’s election, but the election was one of the primary reasons the war broke out the following year.

Lincoln’s decision to fight rather than to let the Southern states secede was not based on his feelings towards slavery.  Rather, he felt it was his sacred duty as President of the United States to preserve the Union at all costs.  His first inaugural address was an appeal to the rebellious states, seven of which had already seceded, to rejoin the nation.  His first draft of the speech ended with an ominous message: "Shall it be peace, or the sword?" 

The Civil War began with the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter , South Carolina, on April 12, 1861.  Fort Sumter, situated in the Charleston Harbour, was a Union outpost in the newly seceded Confederate territory. Lincoln, learning that the Fort was running low on food, sent supplies to reinforce the soldiers there. The Southern navy repulsed the supply convoy. After this repulse, the Southern navy fired the first shot of the war at Fort Sumter and the Federal defenders surrendered after a 34-hour long battle. 

Throughout the war, Lincoln struggled to find capable generals for his armies.  As commander-in-chief, he legally held the highest rank in the United States armed forces, and he diligently exercised his authority through strategic planning, weapons testing, and the promotion and demotion of officers.  McDowell , Fremont, McClellan , Pope , McClellan again, Buell , Burnside , Rosecrans --all of these men and more withered under Lincoln's watchful eye as they failed to bring him success on the battlefield. 

He did not issue his famous Emancipation Proclamation until January 1, 1863 after the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam .  The Emancipation Proclamation, which was legally based on the President’s right to seize the property of those in rebellion against the State, only freed slaves in Southern states where Lincoln’s forces had no control. Nevertheless, it changed the tenor of the war, making it, from the Northern point of view, a fight both to preserve the Union and to end slavery.

In 1864, Lincoln ran again for President.  After years of war, he feared he would not win.  Only in the final months of the campaign did the exertions of Ulysses S. Grant , the quiet general now in command of all of the Union armies, begin to bear fruit.  A string of heartening victories buoyed Lincoln's ticket and contributed significantly to his re-election.  In his second inauguration speech , March 4, 1865, he set the tone he intended to take when the war finally ended. His one goal, he said, was “lasting peace among ourselves.” He called for “malice towards none” and “charity for all.” The war ended only a month later.

The Lincoln administration did more than just manage the Civil War, although its reverberations could still be felt in a number of policies.  The Revenue Act of 1862 established the United States' first income tax, largely to pay the costs of total war.  The Morrill Act of 1862 established the basis of the state university system in this country, while the Homestead Act, also passed in 1862, encouraged settlement of the West by offering 160 acres of free land to settlers.  Lincoln also created the Department of Agriculture and formally instituted the Thanksgiving holiday.  Internationally, he navigated the "Trent Affair," a diplomatic crisis regarding the seizure of a British ship carrying Confederate envoys, in such a way as to quell the saber-rattling overtures coming from Britain as well as the United States.  In another spill-over from the war, Lincoln restricted the civil liberties of due process and freedom of the press. 

On April 14, 1865, while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., Abraham Lincoln was shot by Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth.  The assassination was part of a larger plot to eliminate the Northern government that also left Secretary of State William Seward grievously injured.  Lincoln died the following day, and with him the hope of reconstructing the nation without bitterness.

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John L. Burns

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Maybe Erik Larson Should Have Left the Civil War Alone

In “The Demon of Unrest,” present-day political strife inspires a dramatic portrait of the run-up to the deadliest war on American soil.

Maj. Robert Anderson in 1860. Credit... George S. Cook, via Library of Congress

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Alexis Coe is a fellow at New America and the author, most recently, of “You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington.”

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THE DEMON OF UNREST: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, by Erik Larson

The Civil War is one hell of a drug. It’s plentiful and Main Street-legal, but can induce hallucinatory visions when mixed with inflammatory substances. “I’m so attracted to seeing it,” former President Donald J. Trump confessed at a rally this past Jan. 6, three years after his “Big Lie” inspired followers to storm the Capitol — a feat the Southern Confederacy and its campaign to preserve slavery were unable to accomplish, even as the effort left more than 600,000 people dead in its wake.

In “The Demon of Unrest ,” Erik Larson recounts being “appalled” but also “riveted” by Jan. 6 and by “today’s political discord, which, incredibly, has led some benighted Americans to whisper of secession and civil war.”

When Larson, the reigning king of Dad History, drops a new book on the Civil War a month and a half before Father’s Day in a pivotal election year, he knows what he’s doing. Sort of. “The Demon of Unrest ” is Larson’s first book on the Civil War. And his green horns show.

Ostensibly, it mirrors his best-selling books — among them, “ The Splendid and the Vile ” and “ The Devil in the White City ” — with the same pulpy, black-and-white cover treatment and bulky page count, satisfying the collect-them-all, size-matters kind of reader.

The drama unfolds between Abraham Lincoln’s election in November 1860 and the following April, when Confederate troops in Charleston, S.C., shelled Fort Sumter and started the Civil War. During those tense five months, Lincoln hoped, despite a pro-slavery mob’s attempt to stop Congress from tallying the vote and decades of physical violence within the Senate and House chambers , that the war might narrowly be avoided.

At the start the outgoing president, James Buchanan, is maddeningly passive in the face of cabinet resignations and seceding states, including South Carolina, where Confederates would see federal forces arriving at Fort Sumter as nothing short of a foreign incursion. “They ought to hang him,” an astonished Lincoln privately remarks, bewildered by Buchanan’s talk of surrendering federal forts.

Publicly, Lincoln maintains a determined yet conciliatory posture even as Larson’s other hero, Maj. Robert Anderson, a former enslaver and the fort’s commander, is under siege by thousands of better-armed Confederate soldiers and running out of supplies. Anderson and his 80 or so men pray for the best while cornered by the worst.

The stage is set. “I invite you now to step into the past,” Larson writes, and he means it. He wants you not just immersed, but engulfed. A Larson book is like the Dead Sea: The extraordinarily dense level of details — “On the stillest nights, at 9 o’clock, Major Anderson could hear the great bells in the distant witch-cap spire of St. Michael’s Church, bastion of Charleston society where planters displayed rank by purchasing pews” — usually allows readers to float on his narrative without much effort.

I tried my best not to swim, but on more than one occasion, I almost drowned from exertion, especially in the incredibly banal final stretch. And still there was something lacking in the book’s 565 pages: Nary a Black person, free or enslaved, is presented as more than a fleeting, one-dimensional figure. Frederick Douglass, a leading abolitionist and standard of histories of the era, warrants no more than a mention.

Black people are primarily nameless victims of an antagonistic labor system that’s causing a political crisis among white Americans. At one point, to differentiate this near monolith, Larson employs the term “escape-minded Blacks,” a curious turn of phrase that suggests there were “bondage-minded Blacks.”

The flattening is all the more noticeable because so many other characters are given shape. Larson offers a cradle-to-coffin biography of the South Carolina congressman-turned-Confederate James Hammond. Lengthy passages on Hammond’s “five-way affair” with (read: sexual abuse of) four teenage nieces are followed by a short, unnervingly euphemistic account of the enslaved women he (and his son) raped and impregnated: Hammond made Sally Johnson “his mistress,” and when her daughter Louisa turned 12, he “made her his mistress as well.”

Larson’s magnolias-under-the-moonlight word choice is inadequate. Sally and Louisa were damned to Hammond’s forced labor camps, along with more than 300 enslaved people who “had a penchant for dying.” But they got Christmas off, Larson notes; Hammond “held a barbecue” and, on one occasion, “gave a calico frock to every female who had given birth.”

“Cotton is king,” Hammond declared in 1858. The phrase would come to epitomize the newly minted Confederacy’s misguided confidence in both its economic domination and the war. The greatest echo of the present day in “The Demon of Unrest” may be Larson’s newcomer ego, a swaggering disregard for the difference between the shopworn and the truly complex that leads straight into the pitfalls of nostalgia and hubris.

At his Jan. 6 anniversary rally, a century and a half after the Civil War ended, Trump suggested that Lincoln could have negotiated his way out of the conflict and avoided the killing — but only at great personal cost. “If he negotiated it,” Trump observed, “you probably wouldn’t even know who Abraham Lincoln was.” What better reason could there have been to fight?

THE DEMON OF UNREST : A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War | By Erik Larson | Crown | 565 pp. | $35

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Abraham Lincoln

Michael Burlingame edited and abridged by Jonathan W. White

Hailed as the definitive portrait of the sixteenth president, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame's impressive two-volume biography has been masterfully abridged and revised. Sixteenth president of the United States, the Great Emancipator, and a surpassingly eloquent champion of national unity, freedom, and democracy, Abraham Lincoln is arguably the most studied and admired of all Americans. Michael Burlingame's astonishing Abraham Lincoln: A Life, an updated, condensed version of the 2,000-page two-volume set that The Atlantic hailed as one of the five best books of 2009, offers fresh...

Hailed as the definitive portrait of the sixteenth president, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame's impressive two-volume biography has been masterfully abridged and revised. Sixteenth president of the United States, the Great Emancipator, and a surpassingly eloquent champion of national unity, freedom, and democracy, Abraham Lincoln is arguably the most studied and admired of all Americans. Michael Burlingame's astonishing Abraham Lincoln: A Life, an updated, condensed version of the 2,000-page two-volume set that The Atlantic hailed as one of the five best books of 2009, offers fresh interpretations of this endlessly fascinating American leader.

Based on deep research in unpublished sources as well as newly digitized sources, this work reveals how Lincoln's character and personality were the North's secret weapon in the Civil War, the key variables that spelled the difference between victory and defeat. He was a model of psychological maturity and a fully individuated man whose influence remains unrivaled in the history of American public life.

Burlingame chronicles Lincoln's childhood and early development, romantic attachments and losses, his love of learning, legal training, and courtroom career as well as his political ambition, his term as congressman in the late 1840s, and his serious bouts of depression in early adulthood. Burlingame recounts, in fresh detail, the Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln marriage and traces the mounting moral criticism of slavery that revived his political career and won this Springfield lawyer the presidency in 1860. This abridgement delivers Burlingame's signature insight into Lincoln as a young man, a father, and a politician.

Lincoln speaks to us not only as a champion of freedom, democracy, and national unity but also as a source of inspiration. Few have achieved his historical importance, but many can profit from his personal example, encouraged by the knowledge that despite a lifetime of troubles, he became a model of psychological maturity, moral clarity, and unimpeachable integrity. His presence and his leadership inspired his contemporaries; his life story will do the same for generations to come.

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Michael Burlingame

John Rhodehamel

Myrna Perez

To read the peerless Michael Burlingame on Abraham Lincoln is as close as we can conceivably come to spending time with our greatest president in the years of our nation's greatest crisis. In this abridged volume of his two-volume masterpiece, Burlingame gives us a brilliant work of depth and detail. A monumental and indeed vital achievement.

The deep research is still evident. The detailed knowledge of every facet of Lincoln's life remains impressive. But now, thanks to this expertly crafted abridgement Michael Burlingame's, monumental biography of Lincoln is more readily accessible to the broad range of readers it deserves.

When Michael Burlingame's Abraham Lincoln: A Life appeared in 2009, it was recognized at once—and not just by Lincoln admirers—as one of the best Lincoln biographies. This skillful one-volume abridgement by Jonathan W. White now adds the attraction of accessibility to greatness.

Book Details

Introduction and Acknowledgments 1. "I Have Seen a Good Deal of the Back Side of This World": Childhood in Kentucky (1809-1816) 2. "I Used to be a Slave": Boyhood and Adolescence in Indiana (1816-1830) 3

Introduction and Acknowledgments 1. "I Have Seen a Good Deal of the Back Side of This World": Childhood in Kentucky (1809-1816) 2. "I Used to be a Slave": Boyhood and Adolescence in Indiana (1816-1830) 3. "Separated from His Father, He Studied English Grammar": New Salem (1831-1834) 4. "A Napoleon of Astuteness and Political Finesse": Frontier Legislator (1834-1837) 5. "We Must Fight the Devil With Fire": Slasher-Gaff Politico in Springfield (1837-1841) 6. "It Would Just Kill Me to Marry Mary Todd": Courtship and Marriage (1840-1842) 7. "I Have Got the Preacher by the Balls": Pursuing a Seat in Congress (1843-1847) 8. "A Strong but Judicious Enemy to Slavery": Congressman Lincoln (1847-1849) 9. "I Was Losing Interest in Politics and Went to the Practice of Law with Greater Earnestness Than Ever Before": Mid-Life Crisis (1849-1854) 10. "Aroused As He Had Never Been Before": Reentering Politics (1854-1855) 11. "Unite with Us, and Help Us to Triumph": Building the Illinois Republican Party (1855-1857) 12. "A House Divided": Lincoln vs. Douglas (1857-1858) 13. "A David Greater than the Democratic Goliath": The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) 14. That Presidential Grub Gnaws Deep: Pursuing the Republican Nomination (1859-1860) 15. "The Most Available Presidential Candidate for Unadulterated Republicans": The Chicago Convention (May 1860) 16. "I Have Been Elected Mainly on the Cry 'Honest Old Abe'": The Presidential Campaign (May-November 1860) 17. "I Will Suffer Death Before I Will Consent to Any Concession or Compromise": President-elect in Springfield (1860-1861) 18. "What If I Appoint Cameron, Whose Very Name Stinks in the Nostrils of the People for His Corruption?": Cabinet-Making in Springfield (1860-1861) 19. "The Man Does Not Live Who Is More Devoted to Peace Than I Am, But It May Be Necessary to Put the Foot Down Firmly": From Springfield to Washington (February 11-22, 1861) 20. "I Am Now Going To Be Master": Inauguration (February 23-March 4, 1861) 21. "A Man So Busy Letting Rooms in One End of His House, That He Can't Stop to Put Out the Fire that is Burning in the Other": Distributing Patronage (March-April 1861) 22. "You Can Have No Conflict Without Being Yourselves the Aggressors": The Fort Sumter Crisis (March-April 1861) 23. "I Intend to Give Blows": The Hundred Days (April-July 1861) 24. Sitzkrieg: The Phony War (August 1861-January 1862) 25. "This Damned Old House": The Lincoln Family in the Executive Mansion 26. "I Expect to Maintain This Contest Until Successful, or Till I Die, or Am Conquered, or My Term Expires, or Congress or the Country Forsakes Me": From the Slough of Despond to the Gates of Richmond (January-July, 1862) 27. "The Hour Comes for Dealing with Slavery": Playing the Last Trump Card (January-July 1862) 28. "Would You Prosecute the War with Elder-Stalk Squirts, Charged with Rose Water?": The Soft War Turns Hard (July-September 1862) 29. "I Am Not a Bold Man, But I Have the Knack of Sticking to My Promises!": The Emancipation Proclamation (September-December 1862) 30. "Go Forward, and Give Us Victories": From the Mud March to Gettysburg (January-July 1863) 31. "The Signs Look Better": Victory at the Polls and in the Field (July-November 1863) 32. "I Hope to Stand Firm Enough to Not Go Backward, and Yet Not Go Forward Fast Enough to Wreck the Country's Cause": Reconstruction and Renomination (November 1863-June 1864) 33. "Hold On with a Bulldog Grip and Chew and Choke as Much as Possible": The Grand Offensive (May-August 1864) 34. "The Wisest Radical of All": Reelection (September-November 1864) 35. "Let the Thing Be Pressed": Victory at Last (November 1864-April 8, 1865) 36. "This War Is Eating My Life Out; I Have a Strong Impression That I Shall Not Live to See the End": (April 9-15, 1865) Notes Index

Michael Burlingame, Ph.D.

Jonathan w. white.

with Hopkins Press Books

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Biographies offer a chance to explore the decision-making and circumstances around some of history’s most fascinating events. The best biography books offer fresh insights into familiar situations that you may have learned about in history class but never explored in-depth. You can learn the unexpected reasoning behind why a president went with option A instead of option B, or how a scientist’s early failures led to a groundbreaking discovery. Biographies often chronicle the lives of famous people, but sometimes they focus on people who never attained celebrity status despite doing extraordinary things. This list of the top biographies includes people of all backgrounds who can teach us things about life, passion, perseverance and more.

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Biographies are different from autobiographies. A biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else. An autobiography is an account of someone’s life that they write themselves. For instance, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was written by the Founding Father. But more than two centuries later, Walter Isaacson wrote a biography of Benjamin Franklin.

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This book is best for sports fans who want to go beyond Xs and Os. Keith O’Brien’s Charlie Hustle is available from Penguin Random House .

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Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female physician in the United States in 1849—and perhaps more remarkably, her sister, Emily, soon became the second. This New York Times bestseller traces their journeys and the founding of the famed New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, the first U.S. hospital run by women.

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27. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2005)

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22. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner (2021)

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14. The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs (2021)

This remarkable book draws a line between the mothers of three of the most important Black men in American history, celebrating Black motherhood and shining a light on how they resisted Jim Crow while bringing up their sons. It was named one of Amazon's Best Biographies and Memoirs of 2021.

This book is best for parents and anyone interested in civil rights. Anna Malaika Tubbs ’ The Three Mothers is available from Macmillan .

13. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (2004)

Lin-Manuel Miranda was so inspired by this Founding Father biography that he famously wrote some of the music for Hamilton on his honeymoon. Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow follows Alexandar Hamilton from immigration to member of George Washington’s cabinet to death in a duel with his nemesis, Aaron Burr.

This book is best for fans of the Broadway show and presidential history. Ron Chernow ’s Alexander Hamilton is available from Penguin Random House .

"Hamilton" author Ron Chernow and the cast appear onstage at the opening night curtain call for ... [+] "Hamilton" at the Pantages Theatre on August 16, 2017 in Los Angeles.

12. The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography by Miriam Pawel (2014)

Pulitzer Prize winner Miriam Pawel tells the story of one of the most influential and revered U.S. labor leaders in this National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. She doesn't cover up his flaws, but she does illustrate why he was so successful while saluting his enduring humanity.

This book is best for those looking for deep dives on labor or Latine history. Miriam Pawel ’s The Crusades of Cesar Chavez is available from Macmillan .

11. Warhol by Blake Gopnik (2020)

Andy Warhol is so famous, you only need to mention his last name for instant recognition. Art critic Blake Gopnik blends understanding of Warhol’s medium with excellent research and conclusions to paint the most complete picture yet of one of the defining artists of the 20 th century.

This book is best for pop culture devotees and fans of art history. Blake Gopnik ’s Warhol is available from HarperCollins .

10. Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Bradley Hope and Tom Wright (2018)

The Financial Times and Fortune tabbed this one of the best books of 2018 for telling the unlikeliest of stories: How a Malaysian MBA used Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions to steal billions of dollars he used to pay for real estate, parties—and even the making of The Wolf of Wall Street .

This book is best for Hollywood and movie lovers. Bradley Hope and Tom Wright’s Billion Dollar Whale is available from Hachette Books .

9. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis (2013)

There’s so much more to Rosa Parks’ story than one day on a bus in Montgomery. Jeanne Theoharis takes a comprehensive look at her six decades of activism and why she wasn’t the “accidental catalyst” the history books have made her sound like, regaining Parks her agency.

This book is best for those who know how the Montgomery Bus Boycott began but don’t know about Parks’ earlier involvement in organizing. Jeanne Theoharis’ The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks is available from Penguin Random House .

8. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (2005)

The inspiration behind Christopher Nolan ’s summer’s blockbuster film Oppenheimer won the Pulitzer Prize and hit No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. It tells J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life story, with a particular focus on the bomb and how it played into the Cold War.

This book is best for anyone who saw the movie and wants to know more. Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s American Prometheus is available from Penguin Random House .

"Oppenheimer" cast members Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh. The movie is ... [+] based on the prize-winning biography.

7. Self Made: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by A'Lelia Bundles (2002)

Madam C.J. Walker, her enslaved parents’ first freeborn child, became one of the wealthiest women of her time. Entirely self-made, she used wealth gained from her cosmetics empire caring for Black hair to help uplift other women and connect with civil rights leaders. The author is Walker’s great-great granddaughter.

This book is best for people obsessed with the Forbes billionaire lists. A’Lelia Bundles ’ Self Made (originally titled On Her Own Ground) is available from Simon & Schuster .

6. Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins—and WWII Heroes by Tim Brady (2021)

World War II is a hugely popular literary period, and here’s another worthy biography from that era, following the Nazi resistance efforts of Dutch teens Hannie Schaft and sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen. They saved countless children and Jews from concentration camps and even assassinated German soldiers.

This book is best for World War II aficionados and fans of hidden history. Tim Brady’s Three Ordinary Girls is available from Kensington Books .

5. Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly (2018)

This highly rated (4.8/5 stars on Amazon) book incorporates information gleaned from more than 100 interviews, which helped Polly piece together scenes from Lee’s childhood in Hong Kong and the challenges he faced from racism in Hollywood. It also investigates his shocking and still mysterious death.

This book is best for fans of martial arts or who want to know what it was like to be Asian in Hollywood decades ago. Matthew Polly ’s Bruce Lee is available from Simon & Schuster .

Bruce Lee from the 1972 film "The Way of the Dragon." He is the subject of Matthew Polly's ... [+] biography.

4. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit (2021)

This finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award explores author George Orwell’s career from a unique angle: looking at his passion for gardening. Rebecca Solnit ties his devotion to his plants to his work as a writer and an antifascist. It presents him in a different light than past biographies.

This book is best for gardeners and those who’ve read 1984 . Rebecca Solnit ’s Orwell’s Roses is available from Penguin Random House .

3. Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth by John Szwed (2015)

Billie Holiday’s story is too often simplified to a rags-to-riches tale focusing on her struggles pre- and post-fame. But her influence, accomplishments and enduring power are far too grand to tokenize. This biography focuses on her music, allowing jazz scholar John Szwed to illustrate what made her so spectacular.

This book is best for jazz and music fans. John Szwed ’s Billie Holiday is available from Penguin Random House .

2. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (2023)

The Sacklers were once revered for their philanthropy, but the opioid epidemic unmasked how they sold and marketed a painkiller that catalyzed the crisis. This New York Times bestseller traces three generations of the family and their insistence on downplaying the addictiveness of opioids. It asks and answers how they avoided accountability.

This book is best for fans of Hulu’s Dopesick and anyone looking for more information about the opioid crisis. Patrick Radden Keefe ’s Empire of Pain is available from Penguin Random House .

Tufts employee Gabe Ryan removes letters from signage featuring the Sackler family name at the Tufts ... [+] building. The biography "Empire of Pain" details what led to the Sacklers' fall from grace.

1. King: A Life by Jonathan Eig (2023)

Hailed by the New Yorker , Washington Post , Time and Chicago Tribune as one of the best books of 2023, King is a definitive biography of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. It’s also the first to rely on recently declassified FBI files, giving greater depth to the narrative and this unique American story.

This book is best for those who want to go beyond the “I Have a Dream” speech. Jonathan Eig ’s King is available from Macmillan .

What Are The Most Entertaining Biographies?

The most entertaining biographies will teach lessons and impart wisdom while also keeping you on the edge of your seat, anticipating the next development in a storied life. Famed pop culture figures and entertainers make great subjects. 

For an in-depth and fast-paced look at one of our most celebrated jurists, check out 2018’s  Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron de Hart. If you want laughs and a behind-the-scenes peek at a seminal variety show, try David Bianculli’s 2010 book The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour . And to lose yourself in a dishy, reads-like-a-novel bio of the ultimate girlboss, try Marisa Meltzer’s 2023 Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier .

What Are The Best Professional Biographies?

The best professional biographies make connections between the habits and hopes of dreamers and their eventual success. They often provide a blueprint for success that readers can adopt for their own lives. 

To learn how to build a truly impressive empire, read Neal Gabler’s 2006  Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination . Another American legend is the subject of T.J. Stiles’ 2010 National Book Award winner The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt , which is as much about capitalism as Vanderbilt. And in 2016’s Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race , Margot Lee Shetterly shows how Black women professionals were discriminated against at NASA—but still helped land a man on the moon. 

What Are The Best Presidential Biographies?

The best presidential biographies reveal never-before-known details about famous leaders’ lives. It can be challenging to dig up something new but so rewarding because it helps our understanding of how these men governed and led. 

Arguably the best presidential biography is Robert Caro’s portrait of Lyndon B. Johnson, starting with 1990’s  The Path to Power , which traces LBJ’s journey from early childhood to the start of his political career. An enduring book is Edmund Morris’ acclaimed 1979 The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt , which paints a full picture of a complicated man. And 2017’s  The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S. Greenberger shows that even a long-forgotten president still has influence and value. 

Bottom Line

Biographies offer an escape into someone else’s story, giving you the chance to see why they made their decisions and second-guess them if you like. Whether you prefer biographies focused on history, pop culture or science, you can find a book you’ll love on this list.

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