Vote Lincoln!

Book excerpt: In a major publishing event, this fascinating volume restores and explains the most decisive campaign biography in U.S. history. In 1860, the original book catapulted Abraham Lincoln to the White House by dramatically warning of slavery's threat to American democracy. More than a century later, the New York "Times" still praised the original campaign biography as most authoritative and influential. The book spawned an enduring legend: From amidst poverty and tragic loss, a small boy rises to become a mighty crusader for justice. In this radiant new edition, Boston Hill Press skillfully restores and illustrates Mr. Lincoln's only major autobiographical effort. (He secretly wrote the initial manuscript. Under his direction, John Locke Scripps, a founder of the Chicago "Tribune," polished and expanded it into a national bestseller.) This restored edition reveals the potent political messages and campaign strategies that the candidate slyly wove into the storyline. This is no dusty reprint; pithy new commentary provides often breathtaking insights. Dramatic campaign speeches reverberate again; rare photographs and posters depict a clean-shaven, youthful candidate, as he was then, before he became the bearded sage of our history books. Readers gain fresh perspective on Mr. Lincoln's heartbreaking childhood, as well as his later career as a fearless moral crusader. Of exceptional interest is a jaw-dropping campaign appearance before a potentially hostile crowd of 12,000 people, when, against all odds, Mr. Lincoln brazenly defied incendiary race-baiting by his opponent. Above all, this remarkable campaign biography reminds us that Abraham Lincoln was a legend well before his presidential deeds. His early life inspired a host of American icons: humble birth in a log cabin; Huckleberry Finn boyhood; self-made man; proverbial country lawyer; passionate antiwar protester; hopelessly idealistic novice; and hardened crusader for justice. The book implicitly addresses a profound question: How do we recognize a great statesman, before the glory? As such, "Vote Lincoln!" is still mandatory reading for modern voters seeking the next Abraham Lincoln. This is a first restored edition issued in softcover during the Lincoln Bicentennial Year of 2009. In July 2010, the publisher, Boston Hill Press, plans to issue an Expanded Edition in hardcover with more illustrations and commentary.