Sidney Blumenthal is the acclaimed author of A Self-Made Man and Wrestling with His Angel, the first two volumes in his five-volume biography, The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln. He is the former assistant and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and senior adviser to Hillary Clinton. He has been a national staff reporter for The Washington Post and Washington editor and writer for The New Yorker. His books include the bestselling The Clinton Wars, The Rise of the Counter-Establishment, and The Permanent Campaign. Born and raised in Illinois, he lives in Washington, DC.
“[Blumenthal] continues to establish himself as the definitive
chronicler of Lincoln's political career…as essential as any
political biography is likely to be.”—Kirkus, Starred Review
"Macro-history gives us a big picture, but politics, as “Hamilton”
reminds us, happens in hidden rooms. Readers who seek the political
micro-history can turn to Sidney Blumenthal’s multivolume Lincoln
biography, now in its third installment—All the Powers of the
Earth—with two more promised. Written by someone who bears the
battle scars of modern democratic politics, the volumes are all
about Lincoln as a battle-scarred democratic
politician....Blumenthal offers a vividly realized, slow crawl
across the Convention floor by someone who has been
there....Blumenthal’s kind of intricate political history—providing
all the details of how the sprockets and gears engage—feeds, in
turn, the larger cultural perspective."—The New Yorker
“With painstaking research illuminated by penetrating insight,
Blumenthal limns the ascent of the Great Emancipator in a turbulent
era. The brilliance of this third volume of Blumenthal’s projected
five-volume biography will heighten expectations for the next
installment.”—Booklist, Starred Review
“Blumenthal speaks to our own time and, through Lincoln’s life and
work, asks us to consider what price expediency and ego cost
democracy. Brilliant, compelling, and memorable.”—Library Journal,
Starred Review
“An entertaining, Wolf Hall–esque treatment that will please
Blumenthal’s fans and win new ones to this series.”—Publishers
Weekly
"Sidney Blumenthal’s compelling, original and elegantly written
exploration of Abraham Lincoln’s life is advanced with this volume,
which reveals the crucial and fascinating years in which Lincoln
transforms himself into an indispensable national leader, poised to
save his bleeding and broken country. Even more than its
predecessors, Blumenthal’s new book brilliantly illuminates
qualities of leadership that are as important in our own time as
they were during the tumultuous years that led to Civil War.
This epic and path-breaking work deserves to be widely read and
studied.”—Michael Beschloss, bestselling author of Presidents of
War
Praise for The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln
“Magisterial...A vividly written, wide-ranging and often surprising
account of the president-to-be.” —The New York Times Book
Review
“Wrestling With His Angel is a raucous and epic voyage through the
turbulent political waters of the age that made Abraham Lincoln.
Completely mesmerizing, a deeply serious meditation with the keen
sense of humor that Lincoln so famously had.”—John Witt,
author of the Lincoln’s Code, winner of the Bancroft Prize
“[A]n astute account of Lincoln the politician whose apprenticeship
in that profession was a necessary prelude to his greatness as a
statesman in the Civil War. [T]his book offers new insights into
Lincoln's life and career.”—James McPherson, author of The War that
Forged a Nation
“Blumenthal illuminates the path Lincoln hewed to greatness.”—Allen
Guelzo, author of Gettysburg, winner of the Lincoln Prize
“Sidney Blumenthal has rescued the Lincoln most Americans know only
as an icon, and turned him back into a real human being, revealing
a clever and adroit politician, a fixer of conventions, and a
political operator whose ambitions are surpassed only by his
searing moral vision.”—Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert
Oppenheimer
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