Based primarily on long-neglected manuscript and newspaper sources--and especially on reminiscences of people who knew him--this psychobiography casts new light on Lincoln. Burlingame uses a blend of Freudian and Jungian theory to interpret the psyche of the 16th president.

"If I did not laugh occasionally I should die," Lincoln is said to have told his cabinet, "and you need this medicine as much as I do." Now in paperback, this volume gathers the best unpublished and uncollected work on Lincoln by Benjamin P. Thomas, widely regarded as the greatest Lincoln historian of his generation. This diverse collection is enhanced by an introduction by Michael Burlingame, himself a leading biographer of Lincoln, who provides a balanced portrait of Thomas and his circuitous path toward writing history.

Of the three secretaries who assisted President Abraham Lincoln-John G. Nicolay, John Hay, and William O. Stoddard-only Stoddard wrote an extended memoir about his time in the Executive Mansion. First published in 1890, the book vividly depicts the president's agonizing reaction to the defeats at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the difficulties encountered (and presented) by Mary Lincoln, the president's relations with George B. McClellan and other generals, and the anxiety preceding the Merrimack's epic battle with the Monitor. In 1866 Stoddard also penned thirteen "White House...

William O. Stoddard's memoirs as President Abraham Lincoln's third secretary reveala perspective of the president rarely viewed. In this collection of 120 weekly dispatches submitted to the New York Examiner under the pseudonym "Illinois," Stoddard sheds new light on Lincoln and his era.These documents provide commentary on Lincoln's personal circumstances as well as events in Washington and on military, diplomatic, economic, and political developments. Although historians at times differ with Stoddard's accounts, he offers valuable descriptions of Lincoln, insight into the president's...

Originally published in 1922, The Real Lincoln is an in-depth look at Abraham Lincoln the man, not the public figure. Acclaimed at the time as an excellent, impartial source book, The Real Lincoln was compiled by Jesse W. Weik through a series of letters and interviews with people who knew the sixteenth president personally as well as their descendents. This is an examination of Lincoln without the weight of history, looking at him as a dynamic figure and illuminating aspects of his life before his presidency. His childhood, his marriage to Mary Todd, his law practice, the way he spent his...

Long considered a classic, Benjamin P. Thomas's Abraham Lincoln: A Biography takes an incisive look at one of American history's greatest figures. Originally published in 1952 to wide acclaim, this eloquent account rises above previously romanticized depictions of the sixteenth president to reveal the real Lincoln: a complex, shrewd, and dynamic individual whose exceptional life has long intrigued the public.

Thomas traces the president from his hardscrabble beginnings and early political career, through his years as an Illinois lawyer and his presidency during the Civil War....