In the first multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln to be published in decades, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame offers a fresh look at the life of one of Americas greatest presidents. Incorporating the field notes of earlier biographers, along with decades of research in multiple manuscript archives and long-neglected newspapers, this remarkable work will both alter and reinforce our current understanding of Americas sixteenth president. Volume 1 covers Lincolns early childhood, his experiences as a farm boy in Indiana and Illinois, his legal training, and the political ambition that led to a term in Congress in the 1840s. In volume 2, Burlingame examines Lincolns life during his presidency and the Civil War, narrating in fascinating detail the crisis over Fort Sumter and Lincolns own battles with relentless office seekers, hostile newspaper editors, and incompetent field commanders. Burlingame also offers new interpretations of Lincolns private life, discussing his marriage to Mary Todd and the untimely deaths of two sons to disease. But through it all his difficult childhood, his contentious political career, a fratricidal war, and tragic personal losses Lincoln preserved a keen sense of humor and acquired a psychological maturity that proved to be the Norths most valuable asset in winning the Civil War. Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, this landmark publication establishes Burlingame as the most assiduous Lincoln biographer of recent memory and brings Lincoln alive to modern readers as never before.
Author's Note 1. ""I Have Seen a Good Deal of the Back Side of This World"": Childhood in Kentucky (18091816) 2. ""I Used to Be a Slave"": Boyhood and Adolescence in Indiana (18161830) 3. ""Separated from His Father, He Studied English Grammar"": New Salem (18311834) 4. ""A Napoleon of Astuteness and Political Finesse"": Frontier Legislator (18341837) 5. ""We Must Fight the Devil with Fire"": Slasher-Gaff Politico in Springfield (18371841) 6. ""It Would Just Kill Me to Marry Mary Todd"": Courtship and Marriage (18401842) 7. ""I Have Got the Preacher by the Balls"": Pursuing a Seat in Congress (18431847) 8. ""A Strong but Judicious Enemy to Slavery"": Congressman Lincoln (18471849) 9. ""I Was Losing Interest in Politics and Went to the Practice of the Law with Greater Earnestness Than Ever Before"": Midlife Crisis (18491854) 10. ""Aroused as He Had Never Been Before"": Reentering Politics (18541855) 11. ""Unite with Us, and Help Us to Triumph"": Building the Illinois Republican Party (18551857) 12. ""A House Divided"": Lincoln vs. Douglas (18571858) 13. A David Greater than the Democratic Goliath"": The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) 14. ""That Presidential Grub Gnaws Deep"": Pursuing the Republican Nomination (18591860) 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 (MayNovember 1860) 17. ""I Will Suffer Death Before I Will Consent to Any Concession or Compromise"": President-elect in Springfield (18601861) 18. ""What If I Appoint Cameron, Whose Very Name Stinks in the Nostrils of the People for His Corruption?"": Cabinet-Making in Springfield (18601861) Notes Index
""A monumental and meticulous two-volume study of the 16th president... should be required reading for anyone seriously interested in Lincoln.""
