Wholesale Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith

Ron L. Andersen weaves together the intertwined lives of Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith, contemporaries who both lived in Illinois during the 1830s and 1840s. Drawing on period newspaper articles, journals, and biographies, the book explores their startling parallels: humble frontier origins, deep but unconventional faith, reputations as 'infidels,' prophetic warnings of civil war, opposition to slavery, and their eventual martyrdoms. Andersen argues both men were raised up by God as instruments in preserving liberty and restoring truth, presenting them as two prophets among a nation in crisis. * Two of the most famous men in American history lived 100 miles apart in Illinois—did they ever meet? * Lincoln checked out the Book of Mormon from the Library of Congress and kept it in the White House for eight months. * Both Lincoln and Joseph Smith prophesied a civil war beginning in South Carolina. * Joseph Smith ran for President of the United States in 1844—on a platform nearly identical to what Lincoln would later champion. Perfect for a Latter-day Saint history buff who admires Abraham Lincoln and is intrigued by the idea that Lincoln and Joseph Smith were both divinely appointed prophetic figures.