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A Presidential Life a new biography
Oxford University Press
December 2008
On Sale: December 9, 2008
Featuring: Abraham Lincoln
96 pages
ISBN: 0195374525
EAN: 9780195374520
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
Marking the two hundredth anniversary of Lincoln's birth,
this marvelous short biography by a leading historian offers
an illuminating portrait of one of the giants in the
American story. Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson follows the
son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks from his early years
in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, to his highly successful
law career and his marriage to Mary Todd, to his one term in
Congress. We witness the dramatic impact the Kansan-Nebraska
Act had on Lincoln, arousing him "as he had never been
before," leading him to plunge back into politics as a
leader of the Republican anti-slavery movement. In 1858, Lincoln ran for Senator in Illinois as a
Republican, challenging Stephen A. Douglas (a long
acquaintance and former rival for the hand of Mary Todd) to
a series of famous debates. Lincoln lost the election, but
politically his star rose even higher, and he became a
candidate for president in 1860, winning the presidency
despite garnering less than 40% of the popular vote, and no
votes at all in ten southern states. McPherson describes Lincoln's masterful role as Commander in
Chief during the Civil War, the writing of the Emancipation
Proclamation, and his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. A final section discusses his lasting legacy and why he
remains a quintessential American hero two hundred years
after his birth, while a bibliography and a list of online
resources permit easy access to further scholarship.
McPherson here provides an ideal short account of Lincoln--a
compelling biography of a man of humble origins who
preserved our nation during its greatest catastrophe and
ended the scourge of slavery.
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