Books About Lincoln
More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other American. The flood of books began with his death and now totals many thousands of titles covering every imaginable aspect of his life and career.
For the general reader, two standard biographies provide comprehensive accounts of Lincoln and his times: With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B. Oates (New York, 1977) and Abraham Lincoln: A Biography by Benjamin P. Thomas (New York, 1952). A shorter biography, emphasizing Lincoln's early career, is Abraham Lincoln and the Union by Oscar and Lilian Handlin (New York, 1980).
Popular discussions of Lincoln myths, legends, and controversies include Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths by Stephen B. Oates (New York, 1984) and The Lincoln Nobody Knows by Richard N. Current (New York, 1958). An absorbing work for reference and browsing is The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia by Mark E. Neely Jr. (New York, 1981). Among the many illustrated books about Lincoln, some standouts are Lincoln: A Picture Story of His Life by Stefan Lorant (New York, 1969), The Face of Lincoln, compiled and edited by James Mellon (New York, 1979), and Twenty Days by Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt lr. (New York, 1965), a vivid picture of the assassination and the mourning period that followed.
For an introduction to Lincoln's own writings, see Abraham Lincoln: A Documentary Portrait Through His Speeches and Writings, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher (New York, 1964). The definitive edition of Lincoln's writings is The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler, Marion Dolores Pratt, and Lloyd A. Dunlap (8 volumes plus index, New Brunswick, N.J. 1953—55; supplementary volume, 1974). The definitive work on Lincoln photographs is Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Known Pose, by Charles Hamilton and Lloyd Ostendorf (Norman, Oklahoma, 1963).
Acknowledgments and Picture Credits
For special help with the research for this book, I am indebted to Frank J. Dempsey, executive librarian, Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Arlington Heights, Illinois, my wise and witty guide to Lincoln country; Dr. George Weller of Owensboro, Kentucky, my fellow traveler to Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood homes; Thomas F. Schwartz, curator of the Lincoln Collection, Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, who invited me to enter the Lincoln vault and feast my eyes on original documents; and Daniel R. Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago, who helped me chart my initial course through the Lincoln literature.
Grateful thanks also to Grace L. Dinkins, Office of Rights and Reproductions, National Portrait Gallery; Judy Johnson, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee; Mark E. Neely, Jr., Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Ann Shumard, Frederick Meserve Collection, National Portrait Gallery; Linda Ziemer, Chicago Historical Society; and the unfailingly helpful staffs of the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, and the Still Pictures Branch, National Archives.
The photographs and prints in this book are from the following sources and are used with their permission:
Abraham Lincoln Museum Collection, Lincoln Memorial University: [>].
Chicago Historical Society: [>] (Photograph by Larry E. Hemenway), [>] (top), [>], [>] (bottom; Photograph by Brady).
Illinois State Historical Library: [>], [>], [>], [>] (both), [>], [>], [>] (both), [>], [>] (bottom), [>], [>], [>], [>], [>] (both), [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>].
Library of Congress: [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>] (both), [>], [>], [>] (left), [>] (left), [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>] (top right), [>] (bottom left), [>], [>], [>].
Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, Indiana: [>], [>] (right), [>] (right), [>] (top left).
Massachusetts Historical Society: [>] (bottom).
National Archives: [>] (bottom), [>] (top), [>] (bottom), [>], [>], [>] (top), [>] (all photos), [>], [>] (top), [>], [>], [>], [>], [>].
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: [>], [>], [>], [>] (bottom right), [>]. Frederick Meserve Collection, National Portrait Gallery: [>], [>] (top).
The New-York Historical Society: [>] (top).
New York Public Library: [>] (bottom).
Index
Numbers in italics refer to pages with illustrations.
Abolitionists, [>], [>]
Allen, Charles, [>]
Alton, Illinois, [>]
"Anaconda plan," [>]
Antietam, MD, [>]–[>], [>]
Appomattox Courthouse, VA, [>]
Armstrong, Duff, [>]
Armstrong, Jack, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Assassination, [>], [>]–[>]
Assassination file, [>]
Assassination plot, [>]
Atlanta, GA, [>], [>], [>]
Baltimore, MD, [>]
Bates, Atty. Gen. Edward, [>]
Battle of Bull Run, [>], [>] see also second battle of
Bedell, Grace, [>]–[>]
Bell, John, [>]
Berry, William, [>]–[>]
"Blab school," [>]
Black Hawk, Chief, [>]
"Black laws," [>], [>]
"Black Republican," [>], [>]
Blacks in Armed Forces, [>], [>]
"Bleeding Kansas," [>]
Booth, John Wilkes, [>], [>]–[>]
Border states, [>]
Breckinridge, John C., [>]
Bright, John, [>]
Brooks, Cong. Preston, [>], [>]
Brown, Pvt. Abraham, [>]
Buchanan, Pres. James, [>]
Burnside, Gen. Ambrose E., [>]–[>]
Cabinet, Lincoln's, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Calhoun, Sen. John C., [>]
Chancellorsville, VA, [>]
Charleston, IL, [>]
Charleston, SC, [>], [>], [>]
Civil War, [>]–[>]
beginning of, [>]
change of issues during, [>]–[>]
eastern front of, [>], [>]
and emancipation, [>]
final battles of, [>]
in Georgia, [>], [>]
in Maryland, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
military leadership of, [>]–[>]
and naval blockade, [>]
in North Carolina, [>]
and Northern Democrats, [>]
Northern victories of, [>]
in Pennsylvania, [>]
in South Carolina, [>], [>]
in Tennessee, [>], [>]
toll of, [>]
Union offensives of, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
in Virginia, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
western front of, [>]
Clary's Grove Boys, [>]
Confederate States of America, [>], [>]
Constitutional Union party, The, [>]
"Copperheads," [>]
Court martial sentences, [>]
"Crime Against Kansas, The,". [>]
Danville, VA, [>]
Davis, Sen. Jefferson, [>], [>]
capture of, [>]
flees to Danville, VA, [>]
in political cartoon, [>]
Decatur, IL, [>]
Declaration of Independence, [>]
Democratic party, [>]
and slavery, [>]
split of, [>]
Douglas, Sen. Stephen A., [>], [>]
death of, [>]
description of, [>]–[>]
and friendship with Lincoln, [>]
helps the president, [>]
at inauguration, [>]
and Kansas-Nebraska Act, [>]
and Lincoln debates, [>]–[>]
nominated for president, [>]
political career of, [>]
reelected senator, [>]
and slavery, [>]
Douglass, Frederick, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
Draft riots, [>]
Died Scott decision, [>]
Edwards, Elizabeth, [>]–[>]
Edwards, Ninian, [>]–[>]
Eighth Judicial Circuit, [>]
Election
of 1860, [>]–[>]
Election of 1864, [>]–[>]
Elegy (Gray), [>]
Emancipation, [>],-[>]
Emancipation Proclamation, [>]–[>], [>]
Everett, Edward, [>], [>]
Ford's Theatre, [>], [>], [>]–[>]
Fort Sumter, [>]
Fox tribe, [>]
Fredericksburg, VA, [>]
Freeport, IL, [>]
Funeral train, [>]–[>]
Gardner, Alexander, [>]
Garrison, William Lloyd, [>]
Gentry, James, [>]
Gettysburg, PA, [>], [>], [>]
Gettysburg Address, [>]–[>], [>]
Globe Tavern, [>]
Graham, Mentor, [>]–[>], [>]
Grant, Gen. Ulysses S., [>]–[>], [>], [>]
and siege of Richmond, VA, [>], [>]
and surrender of Lee, [>]
Greeley, Horace, [>]
Habeas corpus suspension, [>]
Halleck, Gen. Henry W., [>], [>]
Hanks, Dennis, [>], [>], [>]
Hanks, John, [>]
Hanks, Nancy, [>]
see also Lincoln, Nancy
Harris, Clara, [>]
Harvard University, [>]
Hay, John, [>]
Hazel, Caleb, [>]
Herndon, William, [>], [>], [>], [>]
Hodgenville, KY, [>]
Hooker, Gen. "Fighting Joe," [>]
Illinois Republican convention (1860), [>]
Inaugural Address, first, [>], [>]
Inaugural Address, second, [>], [>]
Inauguration, first [>]–[>]
Inauguration, second, [>]
Indentures, [>]
James River, [>]
Jennison, Edwin, [>]
Johnston, John, [>]
Johnston, Sarah Bush, [>]
see also Lincoln, Sarah Bush
Kansas territory, [>], [>]
Kansas-Nebraska Act, [>], [>]
Keene, Laura, [>], [>]
Knob Creek, KY, [>], [>]
Lee, Gen. Robert E., [>]
counter offensive of, [>]
evacuates Richmond, VA, [>]
in Maryland, [>]
in Pennsylvania, [>]
surrender of, [>]
Library of Congress, [>]
Lincoln, Pres. Abraham
ambition of, [>], [>], [>], [>]
assassination of, [>], [>]–[>]
autobiographical sketch, [>]
and bid for Senate, [>]
birth, [>], [>]
boyhood, [>]–[>]
and campaign for president, [>]
candidate for first political office, [>]–[>]
as captain of militia, [>]
as commander in chief, [>], [>]
compassion of, [>]–[>], [>]
criticisms of, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
death of, [>]
and Declaration of Independence, [>]
depression of, [>]–[>], [>]
and Douglas debates, [>]–[>]
dreams of, [>]
and Dred Scott decision, [>]
earnings of, [>]
education of, [>], [>]
on Eighth Judicial Circuit, [>]
elected to Illinois House of Representatives, [>]
elected president, [>], [>]
elected to U.S. House of Representatives, [>]
farewell to parents, [>]
as father, [>]–[>]
and general store, [>]–[>]
first inauguration of, [>]–[>]
as flatboatman, [>]–[>]
and Fort Sumter, [>]
funeral of, [>]–[>]
as general in chief, [>]
and his generals, [>], [>], [>]–[>]
Gettysburg Address, [>]–[>]
as Great Emancipator, [>]
grows beard, [>], [>]–[>]
home of, [>], [>]
"house divided" speech, [>]–[>]
as husband and father, [>], [>], [>], [>]
on Illinois circuit, [>]
in Illinois State legislature, [>]
labelled "Black Republican," [>]
and law study, [>]
as lawyer, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]
life in Indiana, [>]–[>]
in Kentucky, [>]–[>]
in New Salem, IL, [>]–[>]
in Springfield, IL, [>]–[>]
lying in state, [>]
and Mary Todd, [>]–[>]
and Mexican War, [>]–[>]
nominated for president, [>], [>]
personal description, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]
plans for emancipation, [>]–[>]
political career of, [>]
as postmaster of New Salem, [>]
on reconstruction, [>]–[>]
and recreation, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]
and repeal of Missouri Compromise, [>]
and Republican party, [>]–[>]
second inauguration of, [>]–[>]
skill with ax, [>], [>], [>]
and slavery issue, [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
and Stephen Douglas, [>]
superstitions of, [>]
and Thirteenth Amendment, [>]
untidiness of, [>], [>]
wartime policies of, [>]–[>]
as a Whig, [>], [>], [>]
withdraws from public life, [>]
working habits of, [>]–[>]
Lincoln, Eddie, [>], [>]
Lincoln, Mary Todd, [>]
emotional breakdown of, [>]
as first lady, [>], [>]
and Lincoln-Douglas debate, [>]
and married life, [>]
at New Year's reception, [>]–[>]
as wife and mother, [>]
see also Todd, Mary
Lincoln, Nancy, [>]–[>]
see also Hanks, Nancy
Lincoln, Robert Todd, [>], [>], [>], [>]
Lincoln, Sarah, [>]–[>], [>]
Lincoln, Sarah Bush, [>]
see also Johnston, Sarah Bush
Lincoln, Tad (Thomas), [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
Lincoln, Thomas, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Lincoln, Willie, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
Lincoln-Douglas debates, [>]–[>]
Little Pigeon Creek, IN, [>], [>]
Locke, David R., [>]
Logan, Stephen T., [>]
Malvern Hill, VA, [>]
Manassas, VA, [>]
McClellan, Gen. George B., [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
dismissed, [>]
and march on Richmond, VA, [>]–[>]
as presidential candidate, [>]
as supreme commander, [>]
McDowell, Gen. Irwin, [>
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