An enlightening narrative exploring an oft-overlooked aspect of the sixteenth president's life, An American Marriage reveals the tragic story of Abraham Lincoln’s marriage to Mary Todd. Abraham Lincoln was apparently one of those men who regarded “connubial bliss” as an untenable fantasy. During the Civil War, he pardoned a Union soldier who had deserted the army to return home to wed his sweetheart. As the president signed a document sparing the soldier's life, Lincoln said: “I want to punish the young man—probably in less than a year he will wish I had withheld the pardon.” Based on thirty years of research, An American Marriage describes and analyzes why Lincoln had good reason to regret his marriage to Mary Todd. This revealing narrative shows that, as First Lady, Mary Lincoln accepted bribes and kickbacks, sold permits and pardons, engaged in extortion, and peddled influence. The reader comes to learn that Lincoln wed Mary Todd because, in all likelihood, she seduced him and then insisted that he protect her honor. Perhaps surprisingly, the 5’2” Mrs. Lincoln often physically abused her 6’4” husband, as well as her children and servants; she humiliated her husband in public; she caused him, as president, to fear that she would disgrace him publicly. Unlike her husband, she was not profoundly opposed to slavery and hardly qualifies as the “ardent abolitionist” that some historians have portrayed. While she providid a useful stimulus to his ambition, she often “crushed his spirit,” as his law partner put it. In the end, Lincoln may not have had as successful a presidency as he did—where he showed a preternatural ability to deal with difficult people—if he had not had so much practice at home.

Louis J. Weichmann, one of the principal witnesses at the trial of the conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln, tells the story of the plotting that took place in the boarding house where Weichmann lived.

Traces the political and personal life of the Civil War president.

A clear-sighted, carefully researched account of two surprisingly parallel lives and how they intersected at a critical moment in U.S. history.

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln changed the course of American history. Every school child knows that President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, at Fords Therater. But it seems no one is taught that this assassination was a true conspiracy. The initial plan of Booth and his co-conspirators was to kidnap Lincoln, but the plan was then changed to the simultaneous murder of the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. Few people know that eight people were tried by the United States government, found guilty, and four of them were subsequently executed for conspiring to asassinate the President of the United States. Dr. Boyd tells the story of a nation struggling over the question of slavery, Lincolns election, the major events of the Civil War, and the conspiracy to assassinate one of the most beloved Presidents of the United States. Much more a narrative than an historical treatise, his concise style and the incredible story, illustrated with images of the people involved, captivate readers from start to fi nish. Every American who reads this book will be surprised by what their teachers did not reveal about Lincolns assassination. The book is a must read for those interested in the Civil War and for anyone who admires Abraham Lincoln.

“A masterwork [by] the preeminent historian of the Civil War era.”—Boston Globe Selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, this landmark work gives us a definitive account of Lincoln's lifelong engagement with the nation's critical issue: American slavery. A master historian, Eric Foner draws Lincoln and the broader history of the period into perfect balance. We see Lincoln, a pragmatic politician grounded in principle, deftly navigating the dynamic politics of antislavery, secession, and civil war. Lincoln's greatness emerges from his capacity for moral and political growth.

During the opening days of the Civil War, President Lincoln was under the threat of kidnapping and assassination plots. In the chaos that was Washington at the time, it was the job of 116 men and their charismatic leader Kansas "free state" advocate Jim Lane to protect the president. This book is a meticulously researched account of those individuals and the pre-war conflicts that tore Missouri and the Kansas Territory apart in the 1850s."