“It was through the camera that the most remarkable events in Abraham Lincoln’s life were revealed, events that not only disclosed but shaped his life as well.” The lenses of Matthew Brady, his protégés and other photographers captured extraordinary images of Lincoln and the era, including Lincoln’s involvement with the Emancipation Proclamation, the Civil War, the transcontinental railroad and the Gettysburg Address. The history and power of the photograph (first introduced in the late 1830s) is aptly showcased in this heavily illustrated volume, which demonstrates how the medium affected the public’s understanding of both Lincoln—who fully understood its power to shape impressions—and the war, while Sandler’s informative and accessible text moves thematically through time. A fuller picture of Lincoln and his presidency can be found in Candace Fleming’s The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary (2008), but Sandler offers a valuable and interesting perspective that stands as an essential purchase for libraries, especially during the Lincoln Bicentennial celebration. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
