The first fully realized portrait of Abraham Lincoln s ambitious and controversial early political career written by the gifted young historian (Richard Norton Smith) and author of "Founding Rivals. "
Chris DeRose, the gifted young historian (Richard Norton Smith) who penned one of "The Washington Post" s Best Political Books with 2011 s "Founding Rivals," draws from the unpublished Papers of Abraham Lincoln, and other rare sources, to deliver the first fully realized portrait of Lincoln s controversial early political career.
The years 1847 through 1849, though marked by defeat and divisiveness for Washington s newest arrival, ultimately defined Lincoln s future as president during America s darkest days. With keen insights sprung from his exhaustive research, DeRose portrays Congressman Lincoln as a leader torn between principle and viability, who once nearly dueled a political adversary; a master strategist and member of the Whig party; a reluctant husband saddled with a tormented private life; and more in a biography so timely and relevant that House Speaker John A. Boehner quoted "Congressman Lincoln" at length in a 2013 address to House Republicans, excerpting Lincoln s warnings about government debt growing with a rapidity fearful to contemplate. "