This bibliography of Abraham Lincoln is a comprehensive list of written and published works about or by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. In terms of modern sources containing Lincoln's letters and writings, scholars rely on The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy Basler, and others. It only includes writings by Lincoln, and omits incoming correspondence. In the six decades since Basler completed his work, some new documents written by Lincoln have been discovered. Previously, a project was underway at the Papers of Abraham Lincoln to provide "a freely accessible comprehensive electronic edition of documents written by and to Abraham Lincoln". The Papers of Abraham Lincoln completed Series I of their project The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln in 2000. They electronically launched The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, Second Edition in 2009, and published a selective print edition of this series.Stowell, ed. The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases Attempts are still being made to transcribe documents for Series II (non-legal, pre-presidential materials) and Series III (presidential materials).

Sixteen thousand books and articles have been published on Lincoln—125 on the assassination alone—more than any on other American. This listing is therefore highly selective and is based on reviews in the scholarly journals and recommended readings compiled by scholars.

Bibliography

Biographies Beveridge, Albert J. Abraham Lincoln: 1809–1858 (1928). 2 vols. to 1858; notable for strong, political coverage that tends to favor Stephen Douglas online edition Burlingame, Michael. Abraham Lincoln: A Life (2 vols. 2008); the most detailed life. Manuscript. One-volume edition edited and abridged by Jonathan W. White (2023). Burlingame, Michael. The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln (1994). Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Carpenter, Francis Bicknell (1866). Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln: The Story of a Picture, New York: Hurd and Houghton (1866); also published as The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: Six Months at the White House, New York: Hurd and Houghton (1867). Author was the artist who painted First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln. Carwardine, Richard. Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power (2003), winner of the Lincoln Prize Lord Charnwood, Abraham Lincoln (1916), first bio by a non-American, Excerpt

Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln (1995). Excerpt

Gienapp, William E. Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography (2002). online edition Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2005), winner of the Lincoln Prize, basis for the 2012 film Lincoln.

Guelzo, Allen C. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (1999) online edition Second edition, 2022.

Harris, William C. Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency (2007) conservative author argues Lincoln was basically conservative Excerpt

Holland, Josiah Gilbert (1866). Holland's Life of Abraham Lincoln. Springfield, Massachusetts: Gurdon Bill. Published in 1998 with introduction by Allen C. Guelzo. Lincoln, Nebraska, and London, UK: University of Nebraska Press.

Luthin, Reinhard H. The Real Abraham Lincoln (1960), emphasis on politics

McPherson, James M. Abraham Lincoln (2009) Short biography, Excerpt

, vol 3. of detailed biography Miller, William Lee. Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography (2002). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Miller, William Lee. President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman (2008). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

detailed articles on many men and movements associated with Lincoln.

Nicolay, Helen (1913). Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln, New York: The Century Co. (based on material that the author's father John George Nicolay had collected but been unable to use in the biography of Lincoln that he wrote with John Hay) Nicolay, John George and John Hay. Abraham Lincoln: A History (1890); online at Volume 1 and Volume 2 vol 6 10 volumes in all; highly detailed narrative of era written by Lincoln's top aides

Oates, Stephen B. (1977). With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Excerpt Randall, James G. Lincoln the President (4 vols., 1945–55; reprint 2000). Fourth volume: Randall, J. G. and Current, Richard N., Lincoln the President: Last Full Measure, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company (1955). Randall died in 1953 and Current completed the book. Reynolds, David S. (2020). Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times. Penguin Press. Sandburg, Carl. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (2 vols. 1926) vol. 1 online (Subscription required.) vol. 2 online (Subscription required.); The War Years (4 vol 1939). Pulitzer Prize–winning biography by the famous poet Smith, Harvey H. (1931). Lincoln and the Lincolns. Pioneer Publications, Inc. Striner, Richard (2020). Summoned to Glory: The Audacious Life of Abraham Lincoln. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Tarbell, Ida. The Life of Abraham Lincoln Thomas, Benjamin P. Abraham Lincoln: A Biography (1952; published with a new foreword by Michael Burlingame in 2008) online edition

White, Ronald C. (2021). Lincoln in Private: What His Most Personal Reflections Tell Us About Our Greatest President. Random House.

Specialty topics Achorn, Edward. Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln (2020) Achorn, Edward. The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention that Changed History (2023) (on the 1860 convention) Published as a book titled The Trent Affair: An Historical Retrospective, with "A few changes in language ... and a paragraph added." Boston, 1912 Angle, Paul M., Here I Have Lived: A History of Lincoln's Springfield, 1821–1865, (1935) online edition Belz, Herman. Abraham Lincoln, Constitutionalism, and Equal Rights in the Civil War Era (1998) Boritt, Gabor S. Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream (1994). Lincoln's economic theory and policies

Boritt, Gabor S., ed. Lincoln the War President (1994) Bruce, Robert V. Lincoln and the Tools of War (1956) on weapons development during the war online edition Bush, Bryan S. Lincoln and the Speeds: The Untold Story of a Devoted and Enduring Friendship (2008) Chittenden, Lucius E. Recollections of President Lincoln and His Administration, (1891). – Google Books

Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era (1960)

Donald, David Herbert. We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends Simon & Schuster, (2003). Earle, Jonathan (2026). He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860. New York: Oxford University Press. Emerson, James (2007). The Madness of Mary Lincoln. Southern Illinois University Press. . Foner, Eric. The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2011); Pulitzer Prize excerpt and text search

Gerleman, David J. Representative Lincoln at Work: Reconstructing a Legislative Career from Original Archival Documents (2017) Lincoln's congressional career The Capitol Dome - 2017 Dome 54.2

Guelzo, Allen C. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, Simon & Schuster (2004). Guelzo, Allen C. Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America, Simon & Schuster (2008).

Harris, William C. With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union (1997). AL's plans for Reconstruction Hendrick, Burton J. Lincoln's War Cabinet (1946) online edition Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It (1948) ch. 5: "Abraham Lincoln and the Self-Made Myth." Howe, Daniel Walker. Why Abraham Lincoln Was a Whig. Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 16.1 (1995)

Kashatus, William C. Abraham Lincoln, the Quakers and the Civil War: A Trial of Principle and Faith. Praeger, 2014. . Kunhardt Jr., Phillip B., Kunhardt III, Phillip, and Kunhardt, Peter W. Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography. Gramercy Books, New York, 1992. Laxner, James, Staking Claims to a Continent: John A. Macdonald, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and the Making of North America (2016). Anansi Press Lind, Michael. What Lincoln Believed. The Values and Convictions of America's Greatest President (2004). Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc. New York McGinty, Brian. The Body of John Merryman: Abraham Lincoln and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus. Harvard University Press, 2011. McGinty, Brian. Lincoln and the Court. Harvard University Press, 2008. McGinty, Brian. Lincoln and California: The President, the War, and the Golden State. Potomac Books, 2023. McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988). Pulitzer Prize-winning book surveys all aspects of the war

Neely, Mark E. The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties (1992). Pulitzer Prize winner. online version Neely, Mark E. Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation: Constitutional Conflict and the American Civil War (2011) Oakes, James. The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2007. . review Ostendorf, Lloyd, and Hamilton, Charles. Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Known Pose, Morningside House Inc., 1963, . Paludan, Phillip S. The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (1994), thorough treatment of Lincoln's administration

Pinsker, Matthew. Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Review by Harold Holzer Polsky, Andrew J. "'Mr. Lincoln's Army' Revisited: Partisanship, Institutional Position, and Union Army Command, 1861–1865." Studies in American Political Development (2002), 16: 176–207

Randall, James G. Lincoln the Liberal Statesman (1947)

Richardson, Heather Cox. The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War (1997) Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R. Lincoln and Medicine. Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 2012. (Concise Lincoln Library)

Shenk, Joshua Wolf. Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness (2005) , a survey of contemporary criticism and polemic directed at Lincoln White, Jonathan W. Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman (2011). review White, Jonathan W. Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln (2014) White, Jonathan W. Lincoln on Law, Leadership, and Life (2015). review White, Jonathan W. My Day with Abe Lincoln (2024) Children's book based on facts of Lincoln's childhood.

Williams, T. Harry. Lincoln and His Generals (1967). Wilson, Douglas L. Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words (2006) .

Historiography and memory Barr, John M. "Holding Up a Flawed Mirror to the American Soul: Abraham Lincoln in the Writings of Lerone Bennett Jr.," Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 35 (Winter 2014), 43–65. Barr, John M. Loathing Lincoln: An American Tradition from the Civil War to the Present (LSU Press, 2014). Boritt, Gabor S., ed. The Historian's Lincoln. University of Illinois Press, 1988 online

Burkhimer, Michael. One Hundred Essential Lincoln Books. Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House Publishing, 2003). Diggins, John P. On hallowed ground: Abraham Lincoln and the foundations of American history (Yale University Press, 2000) online. Egerton, Douglas R. A Measure Alike Military and Philanthropic': Historians and the Emancipation Proclamation." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 137, no. 1 (2013): 95–114 online Fehrenbacher, Don E. "The Anti-Lincoln Tradition." Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 4.1 (1982): 6-28. online Foner, Eric, ed. Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World (2009), essays by scholars commentary Guelzo, Allen C. "The not-so-grand review: Abraham Lincoln in the Journal of American History." Journal of American History 96.2 (2009): 400-416. online