He Has the People:
Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860
A gripping and granular look at how Abraham
Lincoln got elected the 16th president of the
United States, a moment that redefined American democracy. Part of Oxford University Press' Pivotal Moments in American History series.
Coming August 3rd, 2026
Use code  AAFLYG6  for 30% off ! Pe orders ship July 18th
About the Book
He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860 is a cinematic dive into the most pivotal political contest in American history. Through meticulous research and compelling narrative, this book uncovers how a relatively obscure western lawyer navigated a fractured political landscape to secure a victory that would fundamentally reshape the United States.
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 The book offers an immersive journey into the 1860 campaign, tracking the chaotic breakdown of traditional parties through to the high-stakes drama of Election Day. The narrative follows Abraham Lincoln and his inner circle as they manage a coalition of idealistic reformers and pragmatic politicians. By focusing on this pivotal moment, the book reveals how the fierce debates over slavery, national identity, and the reach of federal power in the 1860s - echoing some of the political divisions Americans continue to navigate today.
"The best campaign account since Teddy White’s The Making of the President 1960." — James Carville
Key Takeaways
- Puts forward a new interpretation of the most pivotal election in U.S. History
- Focuses on extensive campaign reporting by the pioneering eyewitness journalist Murat Halstead
- Presents an Abraham Lincoln that is not providentially selected for greatness, or some kind of living saint -- but a canny politician
Jonathan Earle
Growing up in and around the nation’s capital, Earle was surrounded by history, yet he found himself especially drawn to Abraham Lincoln and the turbulent era leading up to the Civil War. "The Lincoln Memorial, which boasts Lincoln’s words from the Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural, still takes my breath away," he said.Â
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Earle's personal involvement in politics and presidential campaigns stretches back to 1976, when he was still in elementary school, and informs his historical research and writing. "The ways politicians, pundits, and campaign workers translate ideas and issues into votes and movements is the central question to every book and article I’ve ever written," he said. Books that became early favorites include Theodore H. White's The Making of the President, 1960 and Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, outstanding examples of the potentially potent combination of history, journalism, and gripping prose intended for a wide audience.Â
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A historian specializing in the antebellum United States, Earle was educated at Columbia University and Princeton University, and is the author and editor of several acclaimed works, including Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, which won the 2005 Broussard First Book Prize from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR). His edited collection Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the Border was named a Notable Book by the Kansas State Library.Â
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Earle was a longtime faculty member in the History Department at the University of Kansas, where he also served as Director of the University Honors Program and Associate Director of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, before moving to Louisiana State University in 2014, where he is dean of the Ogden Honors College.
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He has received major fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies, served as the Ray Allen Billington Chair in U.S. History at Occidental College and the The Huntington Library, and has appeared on programs for the History Channel, C-SPAN, and PBS. In 2007, the History News Network named him a Top Young Historian.