A masterful work by Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Herbert Donald, Lincoln is a stunning portrait of Abraham Lincoln’s life and presidency. 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.

"Abraham Lincoln has long been considered the greatest president by scholars of American history. According to legal scholars, he could just as easily have been one of the foremost lawyers in the nation had he not become president." "Lincoln practiced law for about twenty-five years, mainly in the circuit courts of Illinois. However, he was hardly a hick country lawyer. In contrast, Lincoln was an incisive, determined, and assertive litigator with an overwhelming caseload. He sought out new business for his law firm and cared about earning a comfortable living." "A ten-year research project, the Lincoln Legal Papers, discovered thousands of yellowed legal documents in musty and dusty courtroom basements. Those handwritten legal papers related to more than 5,000 cases that Lincoln handled, more than 400 before the supreme court of Illinois. In addition, Lincoln appeared before justices of the peace, circuit court judges, and even the Supreme Court of the United States." "For the first time, this book uses the newly discovered legal documents to tell the story of more than sixty of Lincoln's cases. Many of these cases have never been written about previously. Allen D. Spiegel describes how Lincoln the lawyer handled a staggering variety of cases involving arbitration, assault and battery, bad debt, bankruptcy, bastardy, bestiality, breach of marriage, divorce, impeachment of an Illinois justice, insanity, land titles, libel, medical malpractice, murder, partnership dissolution, patent infringement, personal injuries, property damages, rape, railroad bonds, sexual slander, slave ownership, and wrongful dismissal."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"First edition. Published two years in advance of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth (February 12, 2009), this bibliography will be, for Abraham Lincoln scholars and enthusiasts, "a glowing candle on the birthday cake." The volume features approximately 1,000 entries, over 100 images of covers and title pages, and brief excerpts about President Lincoln from many of the publications. The House of the Temple Library possesses one of the nation's finest collections of Lincolniana. In addition to a foreword and an introduction, the book includes, as an appendix, a 26-page facsimile of Lincoln collector and scholar Dr. L.D. Carman's pamphlet "Abraham Lincoln, Freemason." Lincoln was not a Mason, but he "personified the cause of liberty and human fraternity" and in many other respects embodied principles that Freemasons hold dear. This book is the third in an ongoing series of bibliographies authored by Larissa Watkins and co-published by Oak Knoll Press and the Library of the Supreme Council."--Publisher's website.