No one was ever neutral about Abraham Lincoln, and though we have Abe's own writings to reveal his innermost thoughts, it is fascinating to see him through the eyes of his contemporaries. "A man's character is like a tree and his reputation like its shadow," Lincoln observed, "the shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." Creating a composite portrait of the 16th president—and celebrating his integrity, faith, eloquence, humor—Gordon Leidner includes insights into the man by those who knew him best, from his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, to his greatest political opponent, Stephen A. Douglas.