New York Times–Bestseller: "The standard one-volume biography of Lincoln." — The Washington PostThe definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates's acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America's greatest leader. In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the shadow of myth as a recognizable, fully drawn American whose remarkable life continues to inspire and inform us today.

The Definitive Biography of John Brown, Newly Updated "John Brown's life was filled with drama, and Oates tells his story in a manner so engrossing that the book reads like a novel, despite the fact that it is extensively documented and researched." -Eric Foner, The New York Times Book Review Professor Oates "has given us the most objective and absorbing biography of John Brown ever written. The subtitle perfectly captures Brown's own conception of his role in the antislavery crusade. Oate...

A biographical study of the 16th U.S. president, and an essential book for any student of Lincoln and American history.In this multifaceted portrait, Oates, "the most popular historical interpreter of Lincoln" (Gabor S. Boritt, New York Times Book Review), exposes the human side of the great and tragic president—including his depression, his difficulties with love, and his troubled and troubling attitudes about slavery—while also confronting the many legend...

"A penetrating reconstruction of the most disturbing and crucial slave uprising in America's history"—with the full text of The Confessions of Nat Turner ( New York Times).In August of 1831, the enslaved carpenter and preacher Nat Turner led an anti-slavery uprising in Virginia. It lasted several days before state militias captured Turner and put him on trial. Before he was executed, Turner recounted the unbearable conditions he endured and how he secretly ...

"The most comprehensive, the most thoroughly researched and documented, the most scholarly of the biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr." —Henry Steele Commanger, Philadelphia InquirerWinner of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award * A New York Times Notable Book of the YearBy the acclaimed biographer of Abraham Lincoln, Nat Turner, and John Brown, Stephen B. Oates's prizewinning Let the Trumpet Sound is the d...

Another Confederate cavalry raid impends. You hear the snort of an impatient horse, the leathery squeaking of saddles, the low-voiced commands of officers, the muffled cluck of guns cocked in preparation—then the sudden rush of motion, the din of another attack.This classic story seeks to illuminate a little-known theater of the Civil War—the cavalry battles of the Trans-Mississippi West, a region that included Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, the Indian Territory, and part of Louisiana....

An original source history detailing the years of Texas's independence and annexation from a nineteenth-century Texas Ranger and politician.The Republic of Texas was still in its first exultation over independence when John Salmon "Rip" Ford arrived from South Carolina in June of 1836. Ford stayed to participate in virtually every major event in Texas history during the next sixty years. Doctor, lawyer, surveyor, newspaper reporter, elected representative, and abov...

In October 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. His goal was to secure weapons and start a slave rebellion. The raid was a failure, but it galvanized the nation and sparked the Civil War.Still one of the most controversial figures in American history, John Brown's actions raise interesting questions about unsanctioned violence that can be justified for a greater good.For more than a hundred years after Brown's hanging, biographies...

The Whirlwind of War builds on the great themes and follows many of the important figures who were introduced in The Approaching Fury. Stephen B. Oates's riveting narrative brings to life the complex and destructive war that is the central event in American history. He writes in the first person, assuming the viewpoints of several of the principal figures: the rival presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis; the rival generals, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and W...

“The standard one-volume biography of Lincoln.” —Washington Post“Certainly the most objective biography of Lincoln ever written.” —David Herbert Donald, New York Times Book ReviewThe definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates's acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America's greatest leader. In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the sha...

“A penetrating reconstruction of the most disturbing and crucial slave uprising in America’s history.” —New York TimesThe definitive account of the most infamous slave rebellion in history and the aftermath that brought America one step closer to civil war—newly reissued to include the text of the original 1831 court document ""The Confessions of Nat Turner""The fierce slave rebellion led by Nat Turner in Virginia in 1831 and the s...

Biographer and historian Stephen B. Oates tells the story of the coming of the American Civil War through the voices and perspectives of thirteen principal players in the drama, from Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay in the Missouri crisis of 1820 down to Stephen A. Douglas, Jefferson Davis, and Abraham Lincoln in the final crisis of 1861. This innovative approach shows the crucial role that perception of events played in the sectional hostilities that pushed the United States irreversibly t...