Winner of the Lincoln Prize

Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Abraham Lincoln’s political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president.

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry.

Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a character that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals. He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.

It was this capacity that enabled Lincoln as president to bring his disgruntled opponents together, create the most unusual cabinet in history, and marshal their talents to the task of preserving the Union and winning the war.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet. He overcomes these obstacles by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through.

This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln’s mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation’s history.

The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children’s literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England. The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie and celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames valley.

Emma was written after the publication of Pride and Prejudice and was the last novel of Jane Austen to be published in her lifetime.

Of the title character, Austen wrote: “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” Emma is a vivacious twenty-year-old, who has spent her life in the pleasant seclusion of a village community and who lives with her widowed valetudinarian father. Most of the neighbors admire and approve of her, except for George Knightley, a local landowner, who often expresses his disapproval of Emma’s highhanded and controlling tendencies, in particular her assumption of the unofficial role of matchmaker. Much of the early action focuses on Emma’s attempt to encourage the courtship of her ingenuous friend Harriet Smith and Philip Elton, the local vicar. When this scheme fails, Emma switches her attention to her own romantic attachments, and again errs in misjudging the behavior of a potential suitor, Frank Churchill. However, in the end, as in all Austen novels, all the eligible couples are satisfactorily paired off, and Emma is led to understand how little she previously knew about how truly long-lasting relationships are formed.

Like all the other works of Jane Austen, Emma has been used as the basis for a number of presentations on film and television series, including Clueless, a 1995 American romcom.

The Iliad is an epic Greek poem written by philosopher Homer, and is considered one of the oldest pieces of western literature still in existence. The story takes place during the last weeks of the ten year Trojan War, with a focus on the quarrels between King Agamemnon and the legendary warrior Achilles. However, this tale’s most famous scene is when the Greek’s give a gift to the Trojans of a large wooden horse, but one that is filled with soldiers, that allows the Greeks to infiltrate the high walls of the city of Troy. Many Scholars believe the Iliad was originally composed in an oral tradition, intended to be heard, not read, making this epic classic a must have for audiobook listeners!

This favorite book for children, based on the author’s own youthful experiences, describes the life of the March family in a small New England community in the 1800s.

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March are raised in genteel poverty by their loving mother while their father serves as chaplain during the American Civil War. Jo at fifteen is ungainly, unconventional, and enterprising, with an ambition to be an author. Meg, a year older, is pretty and wishes to be a lady. Beth is a delicate child of thirteen with a taste for music. Amy is a blonde beauty of twelve.

The story explores their domestic adventures, their attempts to increase the family’s small income, their friendship with the neighboring Laurence family, and their later love affairs and destinies as women.

Macbeth is William Shakespeare’s immortal tale of boundless, bloody ambition. Mystical predictions from witches and ghosts, combined with an uncontrollable lust for power, trap Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, in a web of political intrigue, madness, and murder.

Amazingly fast, incredibly strong, and fantastically gentle, Black Beauty is a horse that touches the hearts of all who meet him. Born on a grand estate in the English countryside, he spends his days galloping across open meadows and carrying adoring children on his back. But when a tragic accident forces Black Beauty’s owner to sell him, this joyful life quickly comes to an end. Outside the estate is a world where horses are treated with bitter cruelty and thoughtless violence. Nothing, however, can break Black Beauty’s spirit-or his great love. For he knows that someday, he will find happiness again. Black Beauty was written in an age when people took horses for granted just as we take cars for granted today. Many times, people misused horses. In her book, Anna Sewell spoke to the world on behalf of horses, reminding people that animals are living, feeling creatures who deserve to be treated with kindness. Today, Black Beauty is a beloved classic of children’s literature that has captured the hearts of generations.

“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist….A book I could not put down.”
–Ann Patchett

“Mary Renault lives again!” declares Emma Donoghue, author of Room, referring to The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller’s thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War. A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction‘s brightest lights–and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.