"Abraham Lincoln: The War Years " Carl Sandburg, 1940
 
Carl Sandburg’s The War Years is a monumental, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographical study that chronicles Abraham Lincoln’s life from his 1861 inauguration to his assassination and funeral in 1865. Unlike a traditional academic history, Sandburg uses a poetic, "folk-biography" style to paint a massive mural of the American Civil War. He meticulously weaves together thousands of primary sources, letters, newspaper clippings, military telegrams, and anecdotes—to recreate the suffocating pressure of the presidency. The narrative focuses heavily on Lincoln’s personal evolution, illustrating how he navigated the brutal complexities of military strategy, political infighting, and the profound moral weight of the Emancipation Proclamation.
 
Beyond the political history, the work serves as a deeply human portrait of a man transformed by national tragedy. Sandburg portrays Lincoln not as a marble statue, but as a living, breathing figure characterized by melancholy, sharp wit, and an iron will. The volumes capture the "feeling" of the era, detailing the social atmosphere of Washington D.C. and the raw emotions of a divided populace. The War Years remains a cornerstone of American literature for its ability to humanize the "Great Emancipator" and provide a vivid, panoramic view of a nation struggling to survive its greatest crisis.
 
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