With Malice Toward None - by Stephen B Oates (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"The standard one-volume biography of Lincoln." --Washington Post

"Certainly the most objective biography of Lincoln ever written." --David Herbert Donald, New York Times Book Review

The definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates's acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America's greatest leader. In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the shadow of myth as a recognizable, fully drawn American whose remarkable life continues to inspire and inform us today.

Oates masterfully charts, with the pacing of a novel, Lincoln's rise from bitter poverty in America's midwestern frontier to become a self-made success in business, law, and regional politics. The second half of this riveting work examines his legendary leadership on the national stage as president during one of the country's most tumultuous and bloody periods, the Civil War years, which concluded tragically with Lincoln's assassination.

From the Back Cover

The definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates's acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America's greatest leader. Oates masterfully charts, with the pacing of a novel, Lincoln's rise from bitter poverty in America's midwestern frontier to become a self-made success in business, law, and regional politics. The second half of the book examines his legendary leadership on the national stage as president during one of the country's most tumultuous and bloody periods, the Civil War years, which concluded tragically with Lincoln's assassination. In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the shadow of myth as a recognizable, fully drawn American whose remarkable life continues to inspire and inform us today.

Review Quotes

"With Malice toward None is an impressive performance. Full, fair, and accurate. . . . Certainly the most objective biography of Lincoln ever written. . . . Both because of its outstanding historical merits and because it so completely captures the contemporary mood, With Malice toward None is very probably going to [become] the standard one-volume life of Lincoln." -- Pulitzer Prize-winner David Herbert Donald, New York Times Book Review

"The most popular historical interpreter of Lincoln . . . Mr. Oates's With Malice Toward None is the standard biography today. Its very likable Lincoln stands for liberty, and his story has continuity from the log cabin to Ford's Theater. The book has many strengths, but how long it will endure depends on when, or whether, a historian with talents equal to those of Mr. Oates -- no mean requirement -- will come forth with a new biography." -- Gabor S. Boritt, New York Times Book Review

"The standard one-volume biography of Lincoln." -- Washington Post

"Here, in these pages, Lincoln is still alive....Not the god of the Lincoln Memorial, but a man struggling to remain himself under terrible burdens." -- Los Angeles Times

"A superb biography." -- Chicago Tribune

"Hailed as the best one-volume biography of Lincoln" -- Boston Globe