Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon
Book DescriptionIn honor of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, an extensively researched, lavishly illustrated consideration of the myths,  memories, and questions that gathered around our most beloved—and our most enigmatic—president in the years between his assassination and the  dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. A sequel to the enormously successfulLincoln: An Illustrated Biography,Looking for  Lincolnpicks up where the previous book left off, examining how our sixteenth president’s legend came into being.Availing themselves of a vast collection of both published and never-before-seen materials, the authors--the fourth and fifth generations  of a family of Lincoln scholars--bring into focus the posthumous portrait of Lincoln that took hold in the American imagination, becoming  synonymous with the nation’s very understanding of itself. Told through the voices of those who knew the man--Northerners and Southerners,  blacks and whites, neighbors and family members, adversaries and colleagues—and through stories carefully selected from long-forgotten  newspapers, magazines, and family scrapbooks,Looking for Lincolncharts the dramatic epilogue to Lincoln’s extraordinary life when,  in a process fraught with jealousy, greed, and the struggle for power, the scope of his historical significance was taking shape.In vibrant and immediate detail, the authors chart the years when Americans struggled to understand their loss and rebuild their country.  Here is a chronicle of the immediate aftermath of the assassination; the private memories of those closest to the slain president; the  difficult period between 1876 and 1908, when a tired nation turned its back on the former slaves and betrayed Lincoln’s teachings; and the  early years of the twentieth century when Lincoln’s popularity soared as African Americans fought to reclaim the ideals he espoused.Looking for Lincolnwill deeply enhance our understanding of the statesman and his legacy, at a moment when the timeless example of  his leadership is more crucial than ever.Surprsing Facts fromLooking for Lincoln(Click on Images to Enlarge)During  the twenty days of his public funeral......more than a million mourners looked at the face of  Abraham Lincoln.There was an attempt to steal Lincoln’s body from its tomb in  1876.For years afterward it was hidden in a basement while  the public believed it was still inside its sarcophagus.Robert Lincoln was present or close at hand at three presidential  assassinations--his father’s, James Garfield’s, and William McKinley’s--leading him to believe that his life was cursed.For years after the Civil War, Lincoln was hung in  effigy in some southern homes, whereas John Wilkes Booth was hailed as the courageous slayer of an American tyrant.Lincoln’s dog Fido met the same fate as his illustrious master, and  was “assassinated” by a town drunk.The Lincoln penny, issued in the Centennial year, was  the first U.S. Coin to bear the image of a historical figure.