Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography

William E. Gienapp

Oxford University Press, USA, Oct 17, 2002 - History - 239 pages

In Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America, historian William Gienapp provides a remarkably concise, up-to-date, and vibrant biography of the most revered figure in United States history. While the heart of the book focuses on the Civil War, Gienapp begins with a finely etched portrait of Lincoln's early life, from pioneer farm boy to politician and lawyer in Springfield, to his stunning election as sixteenth president of the United States. Students will see how Lincoln grew during his years in office, how he developed a keen aptitude for military strategy and displayed enormous skill in dealing with his generals, and how his war strategy evolved from a desire to preserve the Union to emancipation and total war.Gienapp shows how Lincoln's early years influenced his skills as commander-in-chief and demonstrates that, throughout the stresses of the war years, Lincoln's basic character shone through: his good will and fundamental decency, his remarkable self-confidence matched with genuine humility, his immunity to the passions and hatreds the war spawned, his extraordinary patience, and his timeless devotion.A former backwoodsman and country lawyer, Abraham Lincoln rose to become one of our greatest presidents. This biography offers a vivid account of Lincoln's dramatic ascension to the pinnacle of American history.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - rocketjk - LibraryThing

This is a very enjoyable, well written and relatively brief (200 pages) biography of Abraham Lincoln. The title infers that the book describes only Lincoln's term as president, but in fact it is ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - ben_a - LibraryThing

A capable short biography. I bought it because I wanted to read about Lincoln and couldn't imagine myself taking the massive DH Donald on vacation. Not as much on Lincoln the man as I would have liked ...

About the author

William E. Gienapp has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, The University of Wyoming and Harvard University, where he is professor of Harvard College. He is the author of The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1956 (1987), which received the Avery O. Craven Award from the organization of American Historians, and co-author of Nations of Nations, a U.S History textbook. A specialist on the Civil War era, he recently published adocumentary collection on the war and Reconstruction and is currently writing a history of the Civil War.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography
• Author: William E. Gienapp
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 2002
• ISBN: 0195151003, 9780195151008
• Length: 239 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)