Lincoln

Front Cover
Simon and Schuster, 1995 - Biography & Autobiography - 714 pages
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.

From inside the book

Contents

Preface
13
ONE Annals of the Poor
19
TWO A Piece of Floating Driftwood
38
FOUR Always a Whig
94
FIVE Lone Star of Illinois
119
SIX At the Head of His Profession in This State
142
SEVEN There Are No Whigs
162
NINE The Taste Is in My Mouth
230
TWELVE The Bottom Is Out of the Tub
328
FOURTEEN A Pumpkin in Each End of My Bag
377
FIFTEEN What Will the Country Say
407
SEVENTEEN The Greatest Question Ever Presented
467
EIGHTEEN It Was Not Best to Swap Horses
493
Will Take Care of Myself
575
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About the author (1995)

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and historian David Herbert Donald was born October 1, 1920 in Goodman, Miss. He married Aida DiPace in 1955, they had one child, Bruce Randall. He received an A.B. in 1941 from Millsaps College; an A.M. in 1942, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1946. Donald has been an associate professor of history at Smith College and a professor of history at Columbia University; Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University. He was also Harry C. Warren Professor of American History, chair of the graduate program in American civilization, and professor emeritus at Harvard University. Much of Donald's work involves exploring and interpreting the American Civil War and its central figure, Abraham Lincoln. Some recent works includes Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe, Lincoln, and Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, 1996. He received Pulitzer Prizes in biography for both Charles Sumner and Look Homeward.