Lincoln's Men: The President and His Private Secretaries

During the Civil War three intelligent, articulate young men served as Abraham Lincoln's secretaries. John Nicolay and John Hay lived in the White House across the hall from the president's office and, together with William Stoddard, spent more time with Lincoln than anyone else outside his immediate family. Lincoln's Men is a fascinating, intimate, and moving portrait of life in the Civil War White House and of the beleaguered president's extraordinary relationship with the indispensable trio he used as a sounding board—the best and the brightest of their day who had a place near the center of Washington's grandest galas and a front-row seat on the drama of war.