Lincoln. A Foreigner'S Quest

'A little jewel-box of a book there are passages here which are pure gold... In an astonishingly short work, Jan Morris has conveyed the gawky but kindly expansiveness of the man and his country. If you have time to read only one book about Lincoln, make it this one' Daniel Hannan, Spectator When Jan Morris first visited the United States, she was overwhelmed (and irritated) by the national obsession with Abraham Lincoln: the homespun myth of the awkward six-foot-four country boy who rose to unite the nation seemed too good to be true. So she resolved to make up her own mind, visiting the landmarks of his life to do so: his log-cabin birthplace in Kentucky, via Gettysburg and all the way to the Washington theatre where he was assassinated. This unique work, blending fact, narrative and imagination, is the result. 'Evocative and tender ... An elegy to one of the great political figures of the modern age ... Morris ultimately sees Lincoln as America, the good and the bad, but also as a man possessed of a poet's soul' Raymond Seltz, The Times 'A delightful book ... Continually interesting and quite charming. The charm is partly Morris's and partly Lincoln's, for Lincoln has completely conquered Morris ... she has no doubt that the melancholy, humorous, determined, sometimes depressive Abe was both a great and a good man' Allan Massie, Literary Review 'Funny, intelligent and always prepared to wrestle complex ideas to a point of clarity. It's impossible to imagine Jan Morris giving her readers anything less' Scott Bradfield, Independent