LINCOLN: An Illustrated Biography by Philip...

LINCOLN: An Illustrated Biography by Philip B. Kunhardt Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III and Peter W. Kunhardt (Knopf: $30; 414 pp.). Abraham Lincoln has become such a revered figure that Americans forget he was not an especially popular president: In 1864, the Republican party considered replacing him on the ticket. To supplement their text, the authors have compiled an exceptional array of 19th-Century photographs, not only of Lincoln but other key figures of the era, including former slave Dred Scott and political cartoonist Thomas Nast. Near the end of this exceptional biography, the writers muse, “Despite all that is known, despite the maelstrom of Lincoln literature over the past century and a quarter, we still yearn to know and to ponder Lincoln’s story anew--to understand and to see and to wonder at the extraordinary human being who gave rise to the myths even within his own lifetime.” At a time when office-holders are guided by polls, rather than principals, it’s hardly surprising that people hunger for a vision of a leader who did what he believed was best for the nation, rather than personal gain.