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In
Founders' Son, celebrated historian Richard Brookhiser presents a compelling new biography of Abraham Lincoln that highlights his lifelong struggle to carry on the work of the Founding Fathers. Following Lincoln from his humble origins in Kentucky to his assassination in Washington, DC, Brookhiser shows us every side of the man: laborer, lawyer, congressman, president; storyteller, wit, lover of ribald jokes; depressive, poet, friend, visionary. And he shows that despite Lincoln's many roles and his varied life, he returned time and time again to the Founders. They were rhetorical and political touchstones, the basis of his interest in politics, and the lodestars guiding him as he navigated first Illinois politics and then the national scene. But their legacy was not sufficient. As the Civil War lengthened and the casualties mounted, Lincoln wrestled with one more paternal figure--God the Father--to explain to himself, and to the nation, why ending slavery had come at such a terrible price.
About the author
Richard Brookhiser is the author of What Would the Founders Do? Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, American, and America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918. Writer and host of the critically acclaimed PBS documentary Rediscovering George Washington, he is a columnist for Time magazine and a senior editor of National Review. He has also written for the New Yorker and the New York Times. Richard lives in New York City.
