This volume of original essays, featuring an all-star lineup of Civil War and Lincoln scholars, provides the most current interpretations of the period and the man thrust into its center. Perhaps no one who ever pledged to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and defend the Constitution faced such fundamental challenges. The contributors to this volume examine how Lincoln actively and consciously managed the war—diplomatically, militarily, and in the realm of what we might now call public relations—and in doing so, reshaped and redefined the fundamental role of the president.