Lincoln: A Foreigner's Quest - Couverture souple

When Jan Morris first visited the United States, she was overwhelmed (and irritated) by the national obsession with Abraham Lincoln: the homespun myth of the awkward six-foot-four country boy who rose to unite the nation seemed too good to be true. So she resolved to make up her own mind, visiting the landmarks of his life to do so: his log-cabin birthplace in Kentucky via Gettysburg and all the way to Washington theatre where he was assassinated. This remarkable book, blending fact, narrative and imagination, is the result. 'A little jewel-box of a book ... there are passages here which are pure gold ... In an astonishingly short work, Jan Morris has conveyed the gawky but kindly expansiveness of the man and his country. If you have time to read only one book about Lincoln make it this one.' Spectator

Jan Morris has written more than thirty books of travel, history, and autobiography, including Manhattan 1945 and The World of Venice. Her novel Last Letters from Hav was a finalist for the Booker Prize. She lives in Wales.