Most people know little more about the US President Abraham Lincoln than how he met his end - assassinated in a theatre box by a gunman. But as Thomas Keneally, Booker prizewinning novelist for Schindler's Ark, shows in this short, but enthralling life that Lincoln's origins, his early life, his self-taught lawyer's career and how he became a politician and ultimately US president, is an epitome of the American dream. If Lincoln - without any benefits of class, wealth or contacts - could reach the pinnacle of US life then so might anyone else. Keneally has long been absorbed by Lincoln's life and letters, upon which he draws for his biography.