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This was quite an engrossing book. I have owned it for several years, but never really wanted to read it. I was surprised to find, however, that it was very engaging and informative. I found it hard to get engaged at first, but by the end, I couldn't put it down. The ending goes into some gruesome details, but that's probably not surprising, given that it's a book about Lincoln's assassination. Overall, I recommend this book, but neither this one nor the last one I read, Lincoln and the Fight for Peace, went into enough detail about the life of Lincoln (His death was well covered by this book). So I will have to read more...I've always admired Abraham Lincoln, but as I learn more about him, my admiration has grown exponentially.

I didn't really look closely at what this one was about. I was expecting a biography of Lincoln, and was confused at first when the book seemed to jump around in Lincoln's life. But it's not a biography, it's an examination of the ideals that Lincoln held and his desires for reconstruction after the American Civil War. Those desires were not realized after the war because of Lincoln's assassination, but they were better applied in Germany and Japan after World War II. Really a fascinating look at Lincoln's guiding principle, "with malice towards none and charity to all."

I've been reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, but it's long enough I find it helpful to break it up with other books. I don't read much nonfiction, but it seemed like a good time to read up on a remarkable peacemaker's vision for how to recover from a civil war without succumbing bitterness and resentment or seeking revenge.

This is my third time through the complete WOT series., and I finished re-reading A Crown of Swords today. I enjoyed re-reading it, but every time through I really start getting bogged down in the middle books in the series (6-9). I think there are just so many different storylines happening that it is a bit hard to keep track of them all and keep the main story straight. That said, I still strongly recommend this book and the entire series. I'm not sure what changes in the later books that gets me over this, so I'm going to try to pay more attention this time to see if I can figure it out.