Friends & Enemies

Introduction	Lincoln's Public Life	Assassination
Slavery	Lincoln's Private Life	Money Smart Program
Emancipation	Civil War	Extended Bibliography
Friends & Enemies	Illinois and the Civil War	Sponsors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection,” said Lincoln during his first inaugural address. Discover the people who surrounded the president during his lifetime—some encouraging, others disparaging, and a few finding their own place in history, but all influencing him in some way.

TITLES

The Long Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln’s Thirty-Year Struggle with Stephen Douglas for the Heart and Soul of America by Roy Morris, Jr.
Stephen Douglas was once the most controversial and famous statesman in America. Lincoln, merely a minor politician, studied Douglas’ every move and eventually used their political rivalry to gain national attention.

Lincoln and Whitman: Parallel Lives in Civil War Washington by Daniel Mark Epstein
While Whitman and Lincoln had no direct relationship with each other, they shared the same city and circumstances of the Civil War—Lincoln as commander-in-chief, Whitman as a nurse to injured soldiers--and each wrote eloquently about the war’s consequences.

Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Lincoln, Darwin and Modern Life by Adam Gopnik
Born on the same day in 1809, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin changed history through their beliefs and actions. Author Gopnik compares the two and shows how their use of language still impacts us today.

The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics by James Oakes
Once far apart on the spectrum of abolition, the initial unease these two great men felt for one another slowly turned to admiration, and finally to friendship.

*Dear Mr. Lincoln: Letters to the President compiled by Harold Holzer
Letters from ordinary citizens to the sixteenth president offer greetings, advice, consolation, and a look into what was in the minds and hearts of average Americans. Many of the president’s responses are included.

Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe’s America by Andrew Ferguson
Illinois native Ferguson undertakes a hilarious cross-country journey to see Lincoln’s legacy. Along the way he meets Lincoln collectors, impersonators, detractors and everyone in between.

“We Are Lincoln Men”: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends by David Herbert Donald
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Donald offers a poignant look at Lincoln’s friendships.

Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln’s Opponents in the North by Jennifer L. Weber
The Copperheads—Northern anti-war Democrats—strongly opposed Lincoln. Their conspiracy to launch an uprising at the 1864 Chicago Democratic convention was only one of many attempts to control the Union.

Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner
Elizabeth Keckly, born into slavery, bought her freedom and became the most sought-after dressmaker in Washington and Mary Lincoln’s closest friend.

* Light, entertaining books for both adult and teen readers.