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What if some, or even a few, of the legends that keep Lincoln’s legacy alive and vibrant for us were exposed as fabrications? In Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated with Our Greatest President, Edward Steers Jr., author of two highly acclaimed books on Lincoln’s assassination, raises and analyzes questions about Lincoln in chronological order. Among the things Steers considers are whether Lincoln was born in a cabin, who his real father was, whether he really said all the things he’s famous for saying, what happened to the pages missing from John Wilkes Booth’s diary, etc.

In the book’s introduction, respected Lincoln historian Harold Holzer discusses not only the legends, myths and hoaxes about Lincoln, but also the issue of factual refutations dug up by historians. He observes that the George Washington myths that Lincoln heard and read about and took as gospel truths inspired Lincoln himself to become the kind of man about whom myths are made. One might take that thought further and suppose that myths make the man: Historians will cherish facts; the people will welcome facts while cherishing myths.

Seven score and a few years ago, President Abraham Lincoln brought forth upon this globe words that the world has long remembered. Phrase by phrase, the words Lincoln spoke on November 19, 1863, are rendered and illustrated in large, powerful paintings by artist Sam Fink in The Gettysburg Address. Opposite each full-page painting of Lincoln and a phrase from the address are other Lincoln quotations, along with ones about him from Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Sandburg and others. The prominent Lincoln scholar Gabor Boritt, who participated in the 1956 revolt against the Russians in his native Hungary, has just cause to stress in his introduction that Lincoln’s words, especially a government of the people, by the people, have become a kind of secular gospel, not only for Americans who have such a government, but for nations ever since that have fought and died to achieve it.

In One Man Great Enough: Abraham Lincoln’s Road to Civil War, John C. Waugh, award-winning author of four other books on the Civil War, speaks to us in an intimate narrative, frequently giving voice to Lincoln through his writings, as he leads us down the long, rocky and often muddy road Lincoln took to the White House and to war.

The dramatic climax to this familiar though freshly re-imagined journey is the reconciliation between President Lincoln and his frequent debate opponent, Stephen Douglas, hours after the firing upon Fort Sumter. Enemy bullets having entered the debate, Douglas, the consummate Midwesterner, offered his support to Lincoln, the Southerner married to a Southerner, in the war effort before him. No two men in the United States parted that night with a more cordial feeling of a united, friendly, and patriotic purpose than Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, said the congressman who brought them together, not before their customary crowds debating slavery issues, but alone in the White House. Douglas died soon after, too soon.

The loss of his longtime friend and foe, writes Waugh, leaves Lincoln wondering whether he is the one man great enough to win the war, preserve the Union and end slavery.