"A president who governed a divided country has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Abraham Lincoln was president when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions inextricably bound up with money, power, race, identity, and faith. He was hated and hailed, excoriated and revered. In Lincoln we can see the possibilities of the presidency - as well as its limitations. At once familiar...

Explores how the differing experiences and viewpoints of two Presidents shaped slavery and race relations in America for more than a century.

"Examines the roots of slavery in America and how the issue divided the nation, as well as the start of the Civil War, President Lincoln's views on slavery, and his first step toward ending it forever: the Emancipation Proclamation"--Provided by publisher.

"Father Abraham challenges recent portraits of Lincoln as an essentially passive politician and reluctant abolitionist. Exhaustively researched and crisply argued, this superb book gives us a new appreciation of Lincoln as moral leader."--BOOK JACKET.