DiLorenzo, Thomas, two works: The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, published in 2002, and Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed to Know about Dishonest Abe, published in 2006.

Unlike most works on Abraham Lincoln, these two books by Thomas DiLorenzo tell the whole truth about a president who instigated and presided over the most brutal and unjust war in American history. DiLorenzo’s first book, The Real Lincoln, created a firestorm of criticism by Lincoln scholars and admirers when it was first published in 2002, and a great deal of venom has been and continues to be directed at the author, who is an economics professor at Loyola University in Maryland, and a northerner by birth. Using his knowledge of American economic history, he explored that aspect of the war in terms of its causes, as well as Lincoln’s unconstitutional acts, his suppression of legitimate dissent (including the imprisonment of thousands of northern civilians without due process), and his prosecution of a scorched earth warfare against civilians in the South. As the title suggests, The Real Lincoln lays out the evidence that Lincoln was not a hero but instead, as Dr. Clyde N. Wilson put it, ”a fraud that has poisoned America’s understanding of itself.”

DiLorenzo’s second work, Lincoln Unmasked, deals with many of the same issues as the first book, as well as the cult of Lincoln worship promulgated by many historians. Lincoln Unmasked is shorter and more concise, and perhaps a better place to start for readers unfamiliar with the subject.

Along with tax historian Charles Adams’ When in the Course of Human Events, DiLorenzo’s books on Lincoln are among the most important works written about the War Between the States in this century. Like Thomas DiLorenzo, Adams deals with the brutal, even criminal manner in which the war was waged against the South, and he is one of the few scholars to point out the genocidal aspects of the war. Quoting from newspapers and journals of the time, Adams illustrates how some in the North called for the extermination of the Southern people (“every man, woman, and child!”) and how their “bloodthirsty rhetoric found expression in the devastation of civilians and civilian property by Sherman.”

All these books are in print and readily available in stores and online, new and used.

KLS