Fall 2008 - The Johns Hopkins University Press

Abraham LincolnA LifeMichael BurlingameIn the first multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln to be published indecades, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame offers a fresh look at the lifeof one of America’s greatest presidents. Incorporating the field notes of earlierbiographers, along with decades of research in multiple manuscript archivesand long-neglected newspapers, this remarkable work will both alter and reinforcecurrent understanding of America’s sixteenth president.Volume 1 covers Lincoln’s early childhood, his experiences as a farm boy inIndiana and Illinois, his legal training, and the political ambition that led to aterm in Congress in the 1840s. In volume 2, Burlingame examines Lincoln’slife during his presidency and the Civil War, narrating in fascinating detail thecrisis over Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s own battles with relentless office seekers,hostile newspaper editors, and incompetent field commanders. Burlingamealso offers new interpretations of Lincoln’s private life, discussing his marriageto Mary Todd and the untimely deaths of two sons to disease.But through it all—his difficult childhood, his contentious political career, afratricidal war, and tragic personal losses—Lincoln preserved a keen sense ofhumor and acquired a psychological maturity that proved to be the North’smost valuable asset in winning the Civil War.Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, thislandmark publication establishes Burlingame as the most assiduousLincoln biographer of recent memory and brings Lincoln alive to modernreaders as never before.“The remarkable breadth of Burlingame’s research has resulted in a book unlike anythingelse written about Lincoln. It will be a major contribution to the field.”—Gerald J. Prokopowicz, East Carolina University“Burlingame has developed a familiarity with the details of Lincoln’s life that is truly authoritative,even definitive, and he has genuinely earned his reputation for knowing moreabout Lincoln than just about anyone who has ever studied him.”—Kenneth J. Winkle, University of Nebraska–LincolnMichael Burlingame is the Sadowski Professor of History Emeritus at ConnecticutCollege. He is the author or editor of a number of books about Lincoln,including Lincoln Observed: Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks, published byJohns Hopkins, and The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln.Photograph from Benjamin Brown Frenchshowing March 4, 1861, inauguration ofAbraham Lincoln in front of U.S. Capitol,which was undergoing construction.Sold only as a two-volume setDecember 1,952 pages 7 x 10Two-volume set in slipcase, 32 halftones978-0-8018-8993-6 0-8018-8993-6$85.00(s) / £40.00 hcBiography / American HistoryTHE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS 1-800-537-5487 21