Right up front, I should say that, before I got to the end of this book (which is actually the first chapters of Morse's "Abraham Lincoln", through the first inauguration), plus facsimiles of his 1st inaugural address and one of his letters) I had placed an order to obtain Morse's complete biography of Lincoln. This is a well written biography of a unique figure in American history. Morse knows he is working from some historical distance from his subject, and clearly works to set aside the biases of earlier biographers, but may not be aware that he's not distant enough to avoid the inevitable slant from the Lincoln worship of his day. However, this actually helps provide a clear picture not only of Lincoln (author's bias and all) but of the way most Americans of Morse's day viewed Lincoln and his legacy. Clear, well written, well organized, and full of details about the man but also about contemporary events which helped to make him the president that he was.

Os. ( )