In this beautifully designed volume, America's top Lincoln historians offer a diverse array of perspectives on the life and legacy of America's sixteenth president. Spanning Lincoln's life -- from his early career as a Springfield lawyer, to his presidential reign during one of America's most troubled historical periods, to his assassination in 1865 -- these essays, developed from original C-SPAN interviews, provide a compelling, composite portrait of Lincoln, one that offers up new stories and fresh insights on a defining leader. Extras include a timeline of Lincoln's life, brief biographies of the 56 contributors, and Lincoln's most famous speeches.

Presents the life, career, and accomplishments of the sixteenth president of the United States.

The complete text of one of the most important speeches in American history, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln arrived at the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to remember not only the grim bloodshed that had just occurred there, but also to remember the American ideals that were being put to the ultimate test by the Civil War. A rousing appeal to the nation’s better angels, The Gettysburg Address remains an inspiring vision of the United States as a country “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

When Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, states in the South began seceding, refusing to be ruled by an antislavery party. The Civil War began weeks after he took office. Lincoln became the commander-in-chief of the Union armies during four years of bloody fighting. He also became the main spokesman for the ideals of the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Southern states free of their masters, and making the ending of slavery one of the Union's goals. Lincoln was reelected in 1864, and by early 1865, a Union victory was near. "With malice toward none and charity for all, let us bind up the nation's wounds." Lincoln said in his second inaugural. The war ended in early April. Days later, Lincoln was assassinated by a Southern sympathizer, and so became the highest-ranking victim of the great Civil War. Book jacket.

"In his introduction to The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ketcham notes that there has been so much written about Lincoln that the legend has begun to obscure, if not to efface, the man. In this biography the single purpose has been to present the living man with such distinctness of outline that the reader may have a sort of feeling of being acquainted with him. Ketcham's clearly-written, unadorned account of Lincoln's life achieves its stated purpose, never removing its focus from the man who became the 16th President of the United States and led the nation through some of its most turbulent and difficult times."--Amazon.com

A biography of our sixteenth president, who guided the nation during its bloodiest fight, the Civil War, and whose life was cut short by an assassin.