The Year Of Lincoln

Over at Kiko's House, there's a whole index of posts on Lincoln. Pretty awesome. I'm slowly coming to the realization that I'm going to have to actually read a Lincoln biography. Damn. I was so looking forward to holding on to my simplified view of him as a racist, political opportunist. Damn my open mind!

All jokes aside, I am now taking recommendations on a solid one-volume treatment of Lincoln. I'm not interested in books that only look at him from a particular perspective, or in a particular period. (Lincoln And His Generals, Team Of Rivals etc.) No disrespect to any of those, which I'm sure are great, but I'm looking for a more complete biography. At the moment it looks like a toss-up between Lincoln and With Malice Toward None.

I doubt I'll get to it within the next six months. The reading is piling up. Also, I expect to move toward more primary sources by September.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/07/the-year-of-lincoln/21335/