The sequel to Harness' Young Abe Lincoln, this lively picture-biography covers a lot of territory in its 48 pages. Beginning with Lincoln's arrival in Springfield, the story includes his courtship and marriage and active role as a father, the segue from law into politics, the slavery issue, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The book goes on to discuss Lincoln's presidency, focusing on the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address as well as his second inaugural address, and finally, Lincoln's assassination and funeral train. The text gallops through years of history, with sudden stops for surprisingly vivid little scenes in which Lincoln laughs and slaps "his bony knees," sits at the bedside of his dying son Willie, or dreams a prophetic dream of his own death. Filled with color and action, Harness' paintings and maps dominate the pages and provide a wealth of historical detail as well as a humanizing view of the Lincolns.
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