Lincoln and the First Shot by Richard Nelson Current examines the tense period leading up to the outbreak of the American Civil War, focusing on President Abraham Lincoln's handling of the secession crisis. With Fort Sumter as the centerpiece of the drama, Current explores how Lincoln navigated the treacherous waters of diplomacy, public opinion, and military strategy to maintain the Union without initiating open conflict. The book delves deeply into Lincoln's political acumen and his effo...

Diverse perspectives on Lincoln's assassination, its aftermath, and its place in national memory from some of today's leading Lincoln scholars.The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln remains one of the most significant events in US history. It continues to attract the interest of scholars, writers, and armchair historians, ranging from painstaking new research to wild-eyed speculation. Now leading scholars of Lincoln and his murder offer in one volume their ...

When Americans remember him at all, they no doubt think of Knut Hamsun (1859–1952) as the author of Hunger or as the Norwegian who, along with Vidkun Quisling, betrayed his country by supporting the Nazis during World War II. Yet Hamsun, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1920 for his novel The Growth of the Soil, was and remains one of the most important and influential novelists of his time. Knut Hamsun Remembers America is a collection of thirteen essays an...