About the Author

Abraham Lincoln(1809-1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States, guiding the nation through the Civil War before becoming one of its final vicitims, assasinated at Ford's Theater in Washington on April 15, 1865, less than a week after the surrender of the Confederate army at Appomattox.

Don E. Fehrenbacher(1920-1997) was professor of history at Stanford University. He was the author of several books, includingPrelude to Greatness- Lincoln in the 1850's,The Dred Scott Case- Its Significance in American Law and Politics, andLincoln in Text and Context.