Lincoln of Kentucky Paperback - 2009

HISTORY

"An outstanding work that sheds new light, brings people and events alive, and provides the reader a deeper understanding of the problems and challenges of Lincoln and Kentuckians in the Civil War."--James A. Ramage, author of Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby

"For aficionados of Lincoln, Kentucky history or the Civil War, Lincoln of Kentucky is a worthy addition."--Kentucky Monthly

"Harrison's book is a useful and authoritative study of Lincoln's relationship with his native state."--Lexington Herald-Leader

"Lowell Harrison's research and documentation in Lincoln of Kentucky are admirable; his prose is lucid and readable, and his mastery of Lincoln's relationship with Kentucky and Kentuckians is beyond question. Both the general reader and Kentucky historians will find the work of value in understanding not only Lincoln's association with Kentucky, but Kentucky's association with Lincoln."--Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Though Abraham Lincoln only lived in Kentucky until the age of eight, the Bluegrass state shaped his personality and continued to affect his life into adulthood. His relationship with the commonwealth particularly influenced his Civil War policy. Upon the outbreak of the war, Lincoln used his familiarity with the state to strike a fragile political balance with the intention of preserving the state as part of the Union. Lincoln of Kentucky emphasizes the particular skill and delicacy with which Lincoln handled the problem of a loyal slave state populated by a large number of Confederate sympathizers. He recognized Kentucky's importance as the bellwether of the four loyal slave states, and accepted the commonwealth's illegal neutrality until Unionists secured firm control of the state government. Harrison deftly explores the nation's sixteenth president's ties to the conflicted border state, providing detailed insight into its influence on his life as well as the outcome of the Civil War.

Lowell H. Harrison, professor emeritus of history at Western Kentucky University, is the author of several books, including The Civil War in Kentucky, George Rogers Clark and the War in the West, and Kentucky's Governors, and is the coauthor of A New History of Kentucky.