This is the first biography of the man who, as J.P. Morgan's CEO and the leading banker of his generation, helped establish U.S. economic policy through his broad-reaching financial, political and social connections. Thomas W. Lamont began life as the son of a Methodist parson. By the time he was forty he was a partner with J.P. Morgan & Co. Within a decade he emerged as chief executive. With the powerful Morgan bank at the pinnacle of domestic and international finance, Lamont was in the middle of economic history as it was being made--from the Versailles Treaty to the New Deal. He was on the inside of many of the most politically charged international events of the time--the Dawes Loan and the Young Plan negotiations on German reparations, the disputes over the Allies' war debt, the Japanese domination of Manchuria, the Mexican debt debacle, and the rancorous American debate over aid to embattled England before Pearl Harbor. Lamont advised presidents, prime ministers and their lieutenants for more than twenty-five years. Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ramsay MacDonald were among the political leaders who relied on his keen sense of international banking and politics. Benito Mussolini ignored Lamont's words of caution and paid the price. This intimate biography also tells the personal story behind the public figure by exploring Lamont's friendships with prominent personalities such as Charles Lindbergh, Lady Astor, H.G. Wells, Jan Christiaan Smuts, and dozens of other leading figures. Edward Lamont offers fresh insights into the turbulent period between the two world wars through this fascinating account of the life of the most influential banker of his era.

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserved the Union, and ended slavery. He issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and promoted the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery. This Special Congressional Collectors Edition contains Volume One of the Selected Papers and Writings of Mr. Lincoln, carefully selected from the Lincoln Archives by historian Rutger M. Lamont, a recognized expert in Civil War history and a respected Lincoln scholar. It includes The Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation, two of the most significant historical documents by Lincoln, and a cornerstone of our nation's independence. It also contains an Introduction by Theodore Roosevelt, with 'The Essay on Lincoln' by Carl Schurz and 'The Address on Lincoln' by Joseph Choate. This book provides the reader with a rare glimpse into the intellect, humor and wit that made Abraham Lincoln one of the most important political figures not only in American History, but a man for and of the world at large and an icon for the ages. "This book is quintessential Lincoln, capturing the essence of one of our greatest historical leaders" - The Congressional Record "This is the definative collection of Lincoln's writings. Rutger M. Lamont's Special Collectors Edition should stand the test of time and is a monumental achievement." - Washington Post "Easy to read and highly thought provoking." - U.S. News and World Report