Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) is one of the most famous Americans in history and one of the country's most revered presidents. Schoolchildren can recite the life story of Lincoln, the "Westerner" who educated himself and became a self made man, rising from lawyer to leader of the new Republican Party before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln successfully navigated the Union through the Civil War but didn't live to witness his crowning achievement, becoming the first president assassinated when he was shot at Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. In the generation after the Civil War, Lincoln became an American deity and one of the most written about men in history. With such a sterling reputation, even historians hesitate to write a critical word; in Team of Rivals Doris Kearns Goodwin casts Lincoln as an almost superhuman puppet master in control of his Cabinet's political machinations and the war's direction, juggling the balancing act flawlessly. As a result, Lincoln the man is far less known than Lincoln the myth. William Thayer's biography voluminously covers the life of America's 16th president from the perspective of a 19th century writer.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.

Excerpt from From Pioneer Home to the White House: Life of Abraham Lincoln; Boyhood, Youth, Manhood, Assassination, Death HE author of this volume wrote the first Life of Abraham Lincoln - the pioneer boy, and how HE became president - which, after a very large sale, passed out of print in consequence of the destruction of the plates by fire. A Campaign Life of only thirty-two pages, relating chiefly to his public career, was issued at the West, after his nomination for the Presidency in 1860; but The Pioneer Boy was the first complete biography of the man. Dr. Holland Said of it, several years later, in his Life of Lincoln, A singularly faithful statement of the early experience of Abraham Lincoln. The materials for the Cam paign Life spoken of were furnished by Mr. Lincoln, and he very kindly directed that pamphlet, with a quantity of unused matter, to be passed into our hands, together with the names and addresses of several of his early associates, reared with him in the wilderness, and of intimate friends in later life, from whom the most valuable information, never before given to the public, was received. From these sources of knowledge The Pioneer Boy was prepared. In the preparation of this new, larger and more elab orate Life of Lincoln, we have had, in addition to the above sources of information, others of even greater value, at least so far as his character and public services relate. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.