The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln

This is a great book. I think the introduction is the best. It is interesting plus you really feel Lincoln was a man of the people. My favorite part was when Lincoln had one of his sons in a wagon. Lincoln was so much in his thoughts that the child fell out and was crying loudly and Lincoln kept walking dragging an empty wagon behind him.

I have a large Civil War library, and if there was a fire, this is the one Lincoln book I would try to rescue. Despite being written almost 50 years ago, the book's strong point is not its selection of Lincoln's writings (although that is quite good), but its masterful biographical sketch of Lincoln by Stern. Almost seven score since Lincoln's death, there is still no other satisfying BRIEF biography. In about 200 pages, Stern has managed to capture, in skilfull prose, all the important facts while still having room for some less-wordy, interesting comments. Each important event is succinctly captured in a couple paragraphs. I like that Stern actually calls Lincoln "neurotic" in certain personal aspects. I also like his passages on Willie Lincoln's death, emancipation, and the war's closing. There's really not enough room for any heavy politically-influenced interpretations of issues like those in modern long biographies,and that's why Stern's sketch can't be considered outdated. Some people may not like the short description of Lincoln's assassination, and I thought Stern spent too much ink on Lincoln's final attempts to compensate the South. Since the book predates the most comprehensive, closely-inspected collection of Lincoln's letters, there may be some inaccuracies in the writings reproduced here. However, the selection is an excellent one, linked together well with intros by Stern. I can't imagine this was an easy job for Stern and I'm lost why it's been virtually ignored. But all in all, I can only repeat, if you want to know the most about Lincoln in the fewest words, and have your interest held throughout, just buy this book and you're set!