• About this Book
• About the Author
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• Author Q&A
• Table of Contents

Written by Douglas L. Wilson

• Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
• Publisher: Knopf
• On Sale: November 14, 2006
• Price: $26.95
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-4039-1 (1-4000-4039-6)

about this book

Abraham Lincoln now occupies an unparalleled place in American history, but when he was first elected president, a skeptical writer asked, “Who will write this ignorant man’s state papers?” Literary ability was, indeed, the last thing the public expected from the folksy, self-educated “rail-splitter,” but the forceful qualities of Lincoln’s writing eventually surprised his supporters and confounded his many critics. Since his assassination in 1865, no American’s words have become more familiar or more admired, and their enduring power has established him as one of our greatest writers. Now, in a groundbreaking study, the distinguished Lincoln scholar Douglas L. Wilson demonstrates that exploring Lincoln’s presidential writing provides a window onto his presidency and a key to his accomplishments.

Lincoln’s Sword tells the story of how Lincoln developed his writing skills, how they served him for a time as a hidden presidential asset, how it gradually became clear that he possessed a formidable literary talent, and it reveals how writing came to play an increasingly important role in his presidency. “By the time he came to write the Gettysburg Address,” Wilson says, “Lincoln was attempting to help put the horrific carnage of the Civil War in a positive light, and at the same time to do it in a way that would have constructive implications for the future. By the time he came to write the Second Inaugural Address, fifteen months later, he was quite consciously in the business of interpreting the war and its deeper meaning, not just for his contemporaries but for what he elsewhere called the ‘vast future.’ ”

Illustrated with reproductions of Lincoln’s original manuscripts, Lincoln’s Sword affords an unprecedented look at a distinctively American writer.


“This book is so good that it will shape Lincoln scholarship for generations. At the same time, it is so beautifully written that it will be read by the general reader for years to come. Never has the craft of Lincoln’s writing been more brilliantly revealed. Never has the mind of Lincoln been more deeply penetrated.”
—Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

“This fascinating book is the first close scholarly study of the origins, drafting, writing, rewriting, and polishing of Abraham Lincoln’s most important presidential papers. Written by a master historian, it is not merely a superb study of Lincoln’s prose style; it offers fresh insights into the way the president thought and wrote. Every serious student of Abraham Lincoln’s career will find it indispensable.”
—David Herbert Donald, author of Lincoln

“In a work of rare forensic skill and illumination, Douglas Wilson exposes the compositional layers of Lincoln’s key writings to reveal how the Union president’s indefatigable care over words served as an essential element of his political practice and leadership. Lucid, subtle, and persuasive, Lincoln’s Sword is both a joy to read and scholarship of the very highest order.”
—Richard Carwardine, author of Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power

“Behind a folksy facade, Lincoln was three things–a brilliant intellectual, a shrewd politician, and a literary genius. Douglas Wilson shows us how the first two qualities made the third one so effective.” -
—Gary Wills, author of Lincoln at Gettysburg

“Swathed in marble and myth, the very human Lincoln is as elusive as the icon is recognizable. It is Doug Wilson’s genius to reconstruct the man by deconstructing his words. Persuasive, often surprising, and never dull, Lincoln’s Sword is wielded memorably by a scholar and historical sleuth–at the peak of his powers.”
—Richard Norton Smith, founding director, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

“Lincoln thought best with a pen in his hand. Wilson’s quite stunning achievement is to recover Lincoln’s thought process as it drafted and edited its way to ‘the simple truth that needed to be told.’”
—Joseph J. Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington

“A boomlet of books about Lincoln's oratory has flooded the market in recent years . . . All are excellent, but Douglas L. Wilson takes the conversation to an even higher level in Lincoln's Sword . . . Wilson . . . restores the humanity behind the famous face."
—Ted Widmer, The Los Angeles Times

"A delight . . . a wonder . . . For a few hours your faith will be restored in democracy and politics."
—Bob Blaisdell, The San Francisco Chronicle

"Wilson's may be the finest book yet produced about Lincoln's uncanny creative process."
—Harold Holzer, The New York Sun

"Wilson . . . makes readers feel as if they were sitting at Lincoln's elbow as he writes. A perceptive portrait of Lincoln with pen in hand."
—Booklist

"Wilson contends that Lincoln's writing style reflects a clarity uniquely American in character that makes his works endure to the present day."
—Library Journal

“Wilson expertly demonstrates just how much Lincoln used his flair for language to influence public opinion. By the time he was assassinated, it was clear that his pen had become as mighty as any sword."
—Justin Ewers, Washington Post Book World

"Lincoln's Sword will not only cause readers to see Lincoln in fresh ways, but they will discover how disciplined exactness can sharpen their own writing—and rewriting."
—Myron A. Marty, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Wilson's most fascinating achievement in his new book is the glimpse he offers into Lincoln's mind."
—Christine Gibson, American Heritage

"Wilson does stellar work dissecting Lincoln's most prominent public utterances."
—Cheryl Truman, Lexington Herald-Leader