Abraham Lincoln and the Heroic Legend

Kenneth W. Noe is the Draughon Professor of Southern History Emeritus at Auburn University. He is most recently the author of The Howling Storm: Weather, Climate, and the American Civil War.

"Abraham Lincoln and the Heroic Legend offers a fascinating narrative of how generations of writers and historians evaluated the sixteenth president's reputation as commander in chief during the Civil War. Noe suggests that the admiring and uncritical depiction of Lincoln's grasp of the military arts, which still largely prevails today, might be worthy of a more critical appraisal." - Joan Waugh, author of U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth "In Abraham Lincoln and the Heroic Legend, Kenneth W. Noe offers a sophisticated and probing analysis of Abraham Lincoln as a wartime commander in chief. He then presents a richly detailed account of how Lincoln's contemporaries and later historians helped create the idea that Lincoln, the untutored amateur, turned into a military genius far superior to even his best generals. This forcefully argued work is a major contribution to our understanding of the evolution of Civil War military history." - George C. Rable, author of Conflict of Command: George McClellan, Abraham Lincoln, and the Politics of War "Kenneth W. Noe calls for spirited debate regarding Lincoln's actions as commander in chief, and in Abraham Lincoln and the Heroic Legend, he delivers exactly that! Exploring history, historiography, memory, myth, and legend, Noe's account is sure to stimulate lively discussion among scholars and enthusiasts about Lincoln's wartime presidency." - Jonathan W. White, Lincoln Prize-winning author of A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House "This masterful summary of the literature on Abraham Lincoln as war chieftain is an essential contribution to the canon of Lincoln studies. It is a clarion call for an extensive reevaluation of Lincoln as commander in chief." - Frank J. Wetta, coauthor of Abraham Lincoln and Women in Film: One Hundred Years of Hollywood Mythmaking "In Abraham Lincoln and the Heroic Legend, Civil War historian Ken Noe boldly disputes the historiography that defines Lincoln as a great military genius above all his generals, especially McClellan. With a complex and fascinating analysis, Noe describes the processes by which historians and the public seek to canonize Lincoln. This dazzling examination of the interplay of legends and myth will surely generate much deliberation." - Orville Vernon Burton, coeditor of Lincoln's Unfinished Work: The New Birth of Freedom from Generation to Generation