The greatest untold story

Jefferson Davis was a trained soldier and war hero; Abraham Lincoln a country lawyer. Confronted with the most violent and challenging war ever seen on American soil, Lincoln seemed ill-suited to the task: entrusting command to a preening George McClellan—whose defeat left Washington at the mercy of General Robert E. Lee.

The war almost ended there. But in a Shakespearean twist, Lincoln summoned the courage to make, at last, a climactic decision: issuing as a “military necessity” a proclamation freeing the 3.5 million enslaved Americans. The new war policy doomed the rebellion—which was in dire need of support from Europe, none of whose governments now would dare to recognize rebel “independence” in a war openly fought over slavery.

Review Quote

“A magisterial, riveting account. More than a military or political history, this mesmerizing dual biography offers deep insights into two indomitable, history-altering personalities—born only miles apart in Kentucky—who come to see America in completely different way: one as a free, united, democratic nation, the other as a divided country where human bondage can long endure. Our frighteningly divided country needs this book urgently.”―Harold Holzer

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