Lincoln the Subject

LINCOLN THE SUBJECT
1866 to Present

No American has been written about more than Abraham Lincoln. Although he was only fifty-six years old when he was assassinated, his life, in whole or part, has been the subject of more than 15,000 books. Just as Lincoln created himself through the books he read, he has been continually recreated posthumously by each generation’s biographies. The numerous books about him reflect his stature as a model statesman and the continued fascination with his principal achievements: winning the Civil War, ending slavery, and holding the Union together. Because Lincoln was killed before he could define himself with an autobiography, it has been left to others to provide closure for his life and explain how the most improbable candidate became the greatest president. Beginning with the earliest books about him, writers have made claims about Lincoln or claimed him for their own reasons, often reflecting the authors as much as the subject.

Lincoln’s Anecdotes (New York: American News Co., [1867]).

Old Abe’s Jokes (New York: Dawley, [1864]).

William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik, Herndon’s Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life (Chicago [et al.]: Belford [et al.], 1889).

John G. Nicolay and John Hay, “Abraham Lincoln: A History,” The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine (New York) Nov. 1886 to Apr. 1890.

Josiah G. Holland, The Life of Abraham Lincoln (Springfield [MA]: Gurdon Bill, 1866).

Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (New York: Harcourt, 1926) and Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (New York: Harcourt, 1939).

Walt Whitman, Drum-Taps (New York: n.p., 1865) with Sequel to Drum-Taps (Washington: n.p., 1865–66).

Charles Allen Thorndike Rice, Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time (New York: North American, 1886).

William V. Spencer, Lincolniana: In Memoriam (Boston: Spencer, 1865).