James L. Cotton, Jr. wrote this book to be more than a specialized monograph about the Gettysburg Address. He digressed along the way into side excursions and back roads of Abraham Lincoln’s remarkable life — exploring his hardscrabble childhood, and his courageous but controversial Emancipation Proclamation. After all, to fully understand how the Gettysburg Address came to be, one must understand how Abraham Lincoln came to be. Part of the greatness of the Gettysburg Address is that the DNA of Lincoln’s life is found in every word.

In his foreword, Senator Howard Baker wrote “Judge Cotton’s book is not only a fascinating and scholarly assessment of the Gettysburg Address and its impact on America, but also an absorbing look into Abraham Lincoln’s life.”