American History is a particular interest of mine. There are two Presidents from the past that have always interested me, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. I have been to Monticello many times and have read several books on both Jefferson and Lincoln.
Lincoln's Last Trial is written by Dan Abrams and David Fisher. If you watch Good Morning America, then you are familiar with Dan Abrams since he is the shows legal analyst.
The book centers around a trial Lincoln accepted around the time he was considering running for President of the United States. It is a local murder trial and what makes it very interesting is the fact that the murder victim had trained in his law office. The accused man was the son of Lincoln's good friend and loyal supporter. In this day and age with all the legal mumbo jumbo going on, Lincoln would never have accepted the case since it would definitely be seen as conflict of interest. Times were very different then and practice of the law was evolving and extremely fluid.
At this time he had an untarnished reputation and taking this case was very risky for him especially since he was considering a run for President.
The book gave great incite into Lincoln the man. It captured all the drama in the courtroom. In fact, I actually felt like I was in the court room. In addition it discussed how the law was interpreted at the time. The comparison of the law then and now was extremely interesting.
I would highly recommend this book if you want to get a good feel for Lincoln's character and for his prowess in the courtroom.
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