Celebrity author McGovern here takes on the unenviable task of saying something fresh about our sixteenth president. In this he succeeds fairly well, but the book is severely flawed. The best part of the book is his close analysis of Lincoln's oratory, and the author also provides a brisk and informative narrative of the course of the War of the Rebellion which would serve as a very good encyclopedia article. The only thing which gets in McGovern's way at times is facts; as every schoolboy knows, the Battle of Perryville wasn't fought in Tennessee, and perhaps the single most ridiculous assertion I've ever read in a book (which is setting the bar quite high) is that Lincoln was the first president to confront threat of dissent, secession, or rebellion. In the next paragraph he goes on to describe how Old Hickory dealt with the nullification crisis, and, indeed, I find it more difficult to think of a Lincoln predecessor who didn't face such a crisis than one who did--James Monroe and some of the short-timers, perhaps. The book's big conclusions are largely apt, though preacher's kid McGovern is perhaps a little quick to portray Lincoln as a devout Christian, and he certainly exhibits total buyin to America's ever-present hagiography of the man. ( )

A short and adulatory introduction to Lincoln and his presidency, written in an easy style which would be useful to a high school student. Hits the high points but leaves plenty to follow up on. ( )