In fact, the subject is entirely capable of speaking for himself. Lincoln was self-deprecating and funny in a way that will ring true for the Jon Stewart generation. Just as Mr Obama managed to call himself a black and white “mutt” on national television, so Lincoln good-humouredly adjusted to the consensus description of himself as one of the ungainliest men in politics. Matthew Brady, posing Lincoln for a photograph in New York just before his famed Cooper Union speech in 1860, suggested fixing his collar. Lincoln replied, to the amusement of both men, “I see you want to shorten my neck.” Another time, assuming a large debt upon the death of a former business partner in 1835, Lincoln began calling it his “National Debt”, due to its size and the geographic spread of his creditors.

To be sure, Lincoln also had plenty of miscues. Shortly before his 1861 inauguration, he told the Ohio legislature: “It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety, for there is nothing going wrong.” Never mind that half a dozen states had just seceded from the Union. John McCain's ill-fated assertion in September that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” seems mild by comparison.

Ultimately, of course, Lincoln saved the Union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation and stood firmly by it, despite criticism. But the road to historical favour was long and complex, as Mr White shows. Until the promotion of Ulysses S. Grant, the North's victory in the civil war was held back by a series of inept generals-to the exasperation of Lincoln, who liked to read up on military strategy.

... contd.