But the funny thing is, the point can be made without narrative from historians. The point can be made, and amply, with Lincoln's own words.

Edited and with commentary by Lochlainn Seabrook, The Unquotable Abraham Lincoln does exactly that. With chapters on the REAL Lincolnian motives of the Civil War, his views on slavery, his Fedcentric political attitudes, his surprising opinions about black and white culture, and more, Seabrook has amassed a revealing and, for many, shocking collection of quotes from Lincoln that powerfully contradict the official school textbook version of Lincoln foisted on unsuspecting students.

Lincoln's own words reveal that slave emancipation was far from the root cause of the Civil War.