Lincoln
by David Herbert Donald | 
With Malice Toward None
by Stephen B. Oates | 
Lincoln the Unknown
by Dale Carnegie | 
Lincoln
by Russell Freedman | 
Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin | 
Grant
by Ron Chernow | 
Abraham Lincoln
by Stephen B. Oates | 
The Man Who Saved the Union
by H. W. Brands | 
The Fiery Trial
by Eric Foner | 
Lincoln's Melancholy
by Joshua Wolf Shenk | 
The Lincolns
by Daniel Mark Epstein | 
Lincoln at Gettysburg
by Garry Wills | 
Rebel Yell
by S. C. Gwynne | 
The Day Lincoln Was Shot
by Jim Bishop | 
A. Lincoln
by Ronald C. White | 
The Wright Brothers
by David McCullough | 
Mobituaries
by Mo Rocca | 
Gandhi
by Mahatma Gandhi | 
The Life of Elizabeth I
by Alison Weir | 
Caesar
by Adrian Goldsworthy |
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. It is the best concise introduction to Lincoln in print, a must-have volume for anyone interested in American history or in our greatest president. Best-selling 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, his marriage to Mary Todd, and his one term in Congress. We witness his leadership of the Republican anti-slavery movement, his famous debates with Stephen A. Douglas (a long acquaintance and former rival for the hand of Mary Todd), and his emergence as a candidate for president in 1860. Following Lincoln's election to the presidency, McPherson describes his masterful role as Commander in Chief during the Civil War, the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. The book also discusses his lasting legacy and why he remains a quintessential American hero two hundred years after his birth, while an annotated bibliography permits easy access to further scholarship. With his ideal short account of Lincoln, McPherson provides a compelling biography of a man of humble origins who preserved our nation during its greatest catastrophe and ended the scourge of slavery.