After despairing that he would ever find his way to greatness, Abraham Lincoln takes on the most powerful demagogue in the country, Stephen Douglas, in the debates for a senate seat. Although Lincoln fell short, his confident debate performances and eloquent condemnations of slavery helped him to finally emerge on the national stage. Catching Lincoln at the pivotal moment in his career, Sidney Blumenthal details out how this prairie lawyer helped to build a new political party, brushing aside frontrunner William Seward to make a longshot bid for the presidency.

"[Blumenthal] continues to establish himself as the definitive chronicler of Lincoln's political career…. Essential."—Kirkus Reviews (London)