Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country)

Poor Abraham Lincoln! His life was hardly fun at all. A country torn in two by war, citizens who didn't like him as president, the loss of two young sons, a homely appearance--what could there possibly be to laugh about? And yet he did laugh. Lincoln wasn't just one of our greatest presidents. He was a comic storyteller, a lover of jokes, someone who could lighten a grim situation with a clever quip. What better way to deal with a hard life than to find the humor in it?

This unusual biography of Lincoln touches on the highlights of his life and presidency, focusing on what made his sense of humor so distinctive--and so necessary to surviving his tough life and times.