In the hope of shedding light on questions that continue to spark debate among historians and students of Lincoln, Brooks Simpson presents Think Anew, Act Anew, a concise and inventively annotated collection of documents written by Abraham Lincoln that focus on the interrelated themes of slavery, union, emancipation, and reconstruction. How did Lincoln define equality? How did he harmonize his rejection of slavery as immoral with his toleration of it where it existed? What were his views on race, and did they change over time? What did freedom mean to him?

This unique selection of Lincoln's own words offers readers a chance to explore for themselves how Lincoln understood the prevailing concerns of his America. Professor Simpson provides contextual information in introductions to each of the book's eight chapters and all sixty-four documents are preceded by a brief note.

Brooks D. Simpson is the author of several books on the Civil War and Reconstruction era, including Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of war and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991), The Political Education of Henry Adams (1996), and America’s Civil War (1996). He is a professor of history and humanities at Arizona State University.