This definitive dual portrait offers a fresh perspective on Abraham Lincoln and William Cullen Bryant’s crucial role in elevating him to the presidency.  The book also sheds new light on the influence that “Bryant and his class” (as Lincoln called the Radical Republican faction whose views Bryant articulated) wielded on the chief executive.  How the cautious president and the preeminent editor of the Fourth Estate interacted—and how their ideological battle tilted gradually in Bryant’s favor—is the centerpiece of this study. A work of meticulous scholarship and a model of compression, Lincoln and Bryant is a watershed account of two Republicans fighting common enemies (and each other) during the Civil War era.

Preface.-.Prologue: The Politician and the Poet.- 1.  Lincoln at Cooper Union: “An Eminent Citizen of the West”.- 2.  The Campaign of 1860: “A Real Representative Man”.- 3.  The Secession Winter: “The Madness of the South”.- 4.  The Shock of War: “This Most Wicked and Wanton Rebellion”.- 5.  The Heart of the Rebellion: “No More Playing at War”.- 6.  The Fiery Trial: “What Does the President Wait For?”.- 7.  The Road to Chattanooga: “How the War Drags On”.- 8.  Dark Days: “A Shower of Blood”.- 9.  The Union Vindicated: “Glory to the Lord of Hosts!”.- Epilogue: The President and the Poet.