Lincoln vs. Davis: The War of the Presidents

ISBN: 031656463X

Author: Hamilton, Nigel

Condition: New

From renowned biographer Nigel Hamilton, author of the epic FDR at War trilogy and the bestselling JFK: Reckless Youth, comes the greatest untold story of the Civil War: how two American presidents faced off as the fate of the nation hung in the balance - and how Abraham Lincoln came to embrace emancipation as the last, best chance to save the Union.Of all the books written on Abraham Lincoln, there has been one surprising gap: the drama of how the railsplitter from Illinois grew into his critical role as U.S. commander-in-chief, and managed to outwit his formidable opponent, Jefferson Davis, in what remains history's only military faceoff between rival American presidents. Davis was a trained soldier and war hero; Lincoln a country lawyer who had only briefly served in the militia. Confronted with the most violent and challenging war ever seen on American soil, Lincoln seemed ill-suited to the task: inexperienced, indecisive, and a poor judge of peoples motives, he allowed his administration's war policies to be sabotaged by fickle, faithless cabinet officials while entrusting command of his army to a preening young officer named George McClellan - whose defeat in battle left Washington, the nations capital, at the mercy of General Robert E. Lee, Daviss star performer.The war almost ended there. But in a Shakespearean twist, Lincoln summoned the courage to make, at last, a climactic decision: issuing as a military necessity a proclamation freeing the 3.5 million enslaved Americans without whom the South could not feed or fund their armed insurrection. The new war policy doomed the rebellion-which was in dire need of support from Europe, none of whose governments now would dare to recognize rebel independence in a war openly fought over slavery. The fate of President Davis was sealed.With a cast of unforgettable characters, from first ladies to fugitive coachmen to treasonous cabinet officials, Lincoln vs. Davis is a spellbinding dual biography from renowned presidential chronicler Nigel Hamilton: a saga that will surprise, touch, and enthrall.