… [The] paperback edition of Professor Fehrenbacher’s study, first published in 1962, of Lincoln in the 1850s is a welcome reminder of what can be achieved by a fresh and searching investigation of often-asked questions… . The book is lucidly and soberly written, and full of carefully considered argument. It is one more major contribution to the work of putting the slavery issue back where it has always belonged–at the very centre–of any discussion of the origins of the Civil War. –Journal of American Studies
This is a brilliant book. With thorough research … and a fresh point of view, we have a study that will shape Lincoln scholarship for many years. –The Journal of Southern History
To say that aEURO~this is just another Lincoln book’ would be to demean a significant contribution with a well-worn cliche. This is an outstanding book; we need more like it. –The American Historical Review
American historians generally, and Lincoln collectors and scholars particularly, would do well to add to their own pleasure and knowledge by reading this book, one of the finest pieces of Lincolniana yet written. –The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
This fascinating volume deserves a wide audience. –Mid-America
Enjoyable reading for the general reader, student, and scholar of Lincoln literature. –The Booklist
This is a Lincoln book which belongs in every library and Lincoln collection. –Lincoln Herald
Masterly little book. –The Times Literary Supplement
It is refreshing to discover once again that a book does not have to be ponderous to be significant… . Fehrenbacher has added quantitatively to our knowledge, but more especially to our understanding, of this exciting and fateful period in American history… . One of the finest contributions to Illinois history to appear in a long, long time. –Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society
Professor Fehrenbacher has demonstrated that subjects even as fully studied as the Lincoln theme can still benefit from diligent and judicious contemplation. –Civil War History
