"I think the world of Jim McPherson. When people ask me which historians' writing today they should read, I always recommend Jim, as a writer and as an historian." --David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 1776 and John Adams "A gem. Beautifully written, it is clear, concise, and correct. This is the best, very brief, biography of our sixteenth president ever written." --David Herbert Donald, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lincoln "Abraham Lincoln at last has found his best short biography. Jim McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian, brings his vast knowledge and lucid writing to an illumination of the life of America's most revered President. McPherson touches more Lincoln bases than any reader might reasonably expect, winning a well-deserved accolade that less is truly more." --Ronald C. White, Jr., author of A. Lincoln: A Biography "James McPherson's Abraham Lincoln should be read by every American, indeed by every person the world over, who wants to understand the preeminent American president. McPherson's biography--brief, analytical, beautifully written--encompasses the whole of Lincoln's life. In but a few hours, every reader of this remarkable, short book can know the major moments in the rise of Lincoln-- from a poor boy on the western frontier to one of the world's greatest statesmen."--Lewis Lehrman, author of Lincoln at Peoria: A Turning Point and founder of the Lincoln Institute "This little book is bigger than its pages and should be in every library, schoolhouse, and home as a bicentennial birthday present to ourselves to remind us why Lincoln does indeed 'belong to the ages."--Library Journal "Crisply written and judiciously compact, James M. McPherson's new book is an invaluable contribution--an authoritative biography of Abraham Lincoln that can be read at a single sitting."--Douglas L. Wilson, Lincoln Prize-winning author of Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words "McPherson knows how to cut to the heart of a man and his times." --Journal of Southern History

James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. He has published numerous volumes on the Civil War, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom, Crossroads of Freedom (which was a New York Times bestseller), Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, and For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, which won the Lincoln Prize.