SEAN WILENTZ is the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University, USA. He regularly writes on history and politics for publications such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and Salon.com. His most recent book is The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln.

• PART I: GENERAL APPRAISALS Abraham Lincoln and the Self-Made Myth; R.Hofstadter Abraham Lincoln; E.Wilson Naturally Anti-Slavery: Lincoln, Race, and the Complexity of American Liberty; J.Horton Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream; G.S.Borritt PART II: THE PRIVATE LINCOLN A Strange, Friendless, Uneducated, Penniless Boy; D.H.Donald Mary and Abraham: A Marriage; J.H.Baker PART III: LINCOLN THE POLITICIAN The Master Politician; R.N.Current The Origins and Purpose of Lincoln's House Divided Speech; D.E.Fehrenbacher Why the Republicans Rejected Both Compromise and Secession; D.M.Potter PART IV: LINCOLN, THE PRESIDENCY, AND THE CIVIL WAR The Decision and the Writing; J.H.Franklin Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender; J.M.McPherson Lincoln and the Constitution; M.E.Neely, Jr. PART V: LINCOLN AND POSTERITY Apotheosis; M.D.Peterson

'Full of closely-observed commentary and genuine insight, this roundup will be appreciated most by students and serious armchair historians.' - Publishers' Weekly