Thomas Keneally shows that Lincoln's origins, his self-taught lawyer's career and how he became a politician and ultimately US president, is an epitome of the American dream. If Lincoln without any benefits of class contacts could reach the pinnacle of US life then so might anyone else.

Lincoln is an incisive study of a turning point in America's history and a revealing portrait of its pivotal figure, his greatness etched more clearly in this very touching human story.