Lincoln's official secretaries John Hay and John Nicolay were his close confidants in the darkest and loneliest days of the war. They enjoyed more access, witnessed more history, and knew Lincoln better than anyone outside of the president's immediate family. They were present at every seminal event from the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation to the delivery of the Gettysburg Address, acting as his de facto chiefs of staff, political directors, and liaisons to the military. They read poetry and Shakespeare with the president, commiserated with him over the Union army's many setbacks, and helped plot electoral strategy. To follow Hay and Nicolay through the Civil War years, as we do in Joshua Zeitz's compelling account, is to view a familiar moment in history through a wholly unfamiliar lens. Their letters, diaries, and memoirs are superb sources for a fresh account of Lincoln, the war, Washington, D.C., the country they visited on the president's behalf, the people they knew, and the times they lived in. But when Lincoln died, their task shifted as they became key players in the struggle over his legacy. Lincoln's friends and associates entered into a mad scramble to weave their memories of his character and conscience into the official narrative. How Hay and Nicolay fought for ownership of Lincoln's historical legacy, even as they emerged from Lincoln's shadow to build their own lives, drives the second half of "Lincoln's Boys." They became, in effect, America's first modern presidential historians and biographers, the originators of the image of Lincoln that subsequent generations would internalize-a humble man with uncommon intellect and talent, a Great Liberator who rose from obscure origins on the prairie to become a storied wartime leader and emancipator and who was martyred at the height of his power and influence. That imagery, enshrined in the Lincoln Memorial, was very much their creation. Part political drama, part coming-of-age tale, "Lincoln's Boys" is a story of friendship, politics, war, and the contest over history and remembrance.

Prologue: June 13, 1905 / Part I. Exile in the west -- The homes of free white people -- It was my privilege to witness -- The prairies are on fire -- Wide awake / Part II. A young man of his age -- Despotic act in the cause of union -- God placed him where he is -- New birth of freedom -- His heart was too sad / Part III. Europe -- Pike County balladeer -- Breadwinners / Part IV. A model for all good little boys to follow -- Our ideal hero -- We are Lincoln men all through -- Lincolniana / Part V. The fellows who came of age in the Lincoln years -- Epilogue: July 25, 1947.