Clears up misconceptions spread by various conspiracy theories, recounts the factual evidence concerning Lincoln's assassination, and explains why such unproved theories have been so popular.

This brief, straightforward biography introduces and brings to life - for general readers and students alike - the president who has captured the interest of every generation of Americans since the Civil War. In Out of the Wilderness William Hanchett, a leading Lincoln scholar, follows Abraham Lincoln from his birth on the Sinking Springs farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky, through his family's move to southern Indiana, his mother's death, and his father's remarriage. Hanchett chronicles Lincoln's thirst for education, his achievements as a flatboatman, land surveyor, lawyer, and congressman,...