Lincoln

September 28, 1992
This pictorial biography, a companion volume to a forthcoming TV miniseries, also stands well on its own. Most of the 900 illustrations are drawn from the Frederick Hill Meserve private family collection, a 19th-century photo archive that specializes in Lincoln material. Presented chronologically, the illustrations provide both a definitive visual record of Lincoln's life and a compelling view of the Civil War from the president's perspective. The text, by Meserve's grandson, former Life managing editor Philip B. Kunhardt Jr., and his two sons, relies heavily and effectively on quotations from Lincoln and his contemporaries. The book presents not an icon, but a man who ``wrote like a poet, laughed like a hyena, and cried real tears.'' His consuming struggle to preserve the Union eventually led him to redefine its promises and extend its freedoms in ways that determined America's future. This work convincingly sustains and enhances Lincoln's position as a dominant moral figure of our history. 125,000 first printing; BOMC alternate.