Lincoln: A President for the Ages

Timed to complement the new motion picture Lincoln, directed by Steven Spielberg, Lincoln: A President for the Ages introduces a new Lincoln grappling with some of historys greatest challenges. Would Lincoln have dropped the bomb on Hiroshima? How would he conduct the War on Terror? Would he favor womens suffrage or gay rights? Would todays Lincoln be a star on Facebook and Twitter? Would he embrace the religious right—or denounce it?

The answers come from an all-star array of historians and scholars, including Jean Baker, Richard Carwardine, Dan Farber, Andrew Ferguson, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Allen C. Guelzo, Harold Holzer, James Malanowski, James Tackach, Frank J. Williams, and Douglas L. Wilson. Lincoln also features actor/activist Gloria Reuben describing how she played Elizabeth Keckley, the former-slave-turned-confidante of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln; and a selection of speeches and letters that explore little-known sides of Lincoln; “The Faces of Lincoln,” exploring his complex contemporary legacy.

Whether youre a lifetime admirer of Lincoln or newly intrigued by his story, Lincoln: A President for the Ages offers a fascinating glimpse of his many-sided legacy.

Lincoln, in theaters November 9, portrays America's 16th president when he faced two colossal challenges: winning the Civil War, and passing the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery and making permanent the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation. The politics of wartime, which required unity at all costs, conflicted with divisiveness of slavery. The president had to be at once true to his ideals and employ old-fashioned political cunning to outwit his rivals.

This companion book, featuring a foreword by screenwriter Tony Kushner, invites historians and Lincoln experts to imagine Lincoln in eras other than his own, facing challenges of those times. How would Lincoln have handled the Second World War, or the politics of Civil Rights era, or the modern Republican Party? Using the character of Lincoln presented in the film - a man of high principle and low cunning - the book shows how Lincoln, a president for the ages, might indeed have taken America forward during other historic moments of drama and opportunity.