Abraham Lincoln and William Cullen Bryant

This definitive dual portrait offers a fresh perspective on Abraham Lincoln and William Cullen Bryant's crucial role in elevating him to the presidency.  The book also sheds new light on the influence that "e;Bryant and his class"e; (as Lincoln called the Radical Republican faction whose views Bryant articulated) wielded on the chief executive.  How the cautious president and the preeminent editor of the Fourth Estate interacted-and how their ideological battle tilted gradually in Bryant's favor-is the centerpiece of this study. A work of meticulous scholarship and a model of compression, Lincoln and Bryant is a watershed account of two Republicans fighting common enemies (and each other) during the Civil War era.