Very useful for some of the essays, especially on LIncoln's assassination, debunking some of the conspiracy theories, especially about Stanton and about Mary Surratt --a forerunner to larer work on the guilt of Mary Surratt ( )

This is a '100 essential Lincoln book', but I wouldn't rank it that high. The essays (many/most are condensed from books by their respective authors) are typically very scholarly, but often very dry. Of interest is the range of works, from whether Lincoln was really a friend of the slaves or not, to psychoanalytic views of Lincoln. The latter delves into total absurdity, such as whether the famous dream that Lincoln had of the 'dead president' days before his assassination was really Lincoln's unconscious fear that he had 'killed Washington' (Washington's view of the Republic, that is.) Yeah, right. There are a number of commentaries on the essays, which provide a nice reality check. Overall, this was really a bit too dry for my taste. Guess I'm just a plebe. ( )