Philip Kunhardt | Inspiration from History


This unique and beautiful book captures an overlooked but vital aspect of Lincoln: his face. While he was known as an ugly man, and he even joked about that reputation, Lincoln’s contemporaries often commented on his striking features—on how animated he became while telling stories, or how at more serious moments his face seemed to reflect his wisdom. Taken across a span of nearly twenty years, from 1846 to 1865, these images provide us with a visual account of Lincoln’s intertwined political and personal lives as we watch him age and observe the toll taken by the Civil War in the final four years of his life. [more]


In honor of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, an extensively researched, lavishly illustrated consideration of the myths, memories, and questions that gathered around our most beloved—and our most enigmatic—president in the years between his assassination and the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. A sequel to the enormously successful Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography, Looking for Lincoln picks up where the previous book left off, examining how our sixteenth president’s legend came into being. [more]


Reviews for Looking for Lincoln


Available Public Lectures Looking For Lincoln: Why He Matters Lincoln and Leadership: The Mastering of Time Mary Todd Lincoln: The Years without Him P.T. Barnum and American Entertainment


Philip Kunhardt has a major article on Abraham Lincoln in the February issue of *Smithsonian Magazine. It is entitled “Lincoln’s Contested Legacy." On February 7, 2009 Philip Kunhardt accepted the Order of Lincoln award from the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. He and his brother Peter were among thirty laureates chosen to receive Illinois’ highest award, presented in Springfield, Illinois. The honorees were chosen for their lifetime contribution to the understanding and appreciation of Abraham Lincoln. Philip Kunhardt received a grant from the U. S. State Department* to speak to audiences in Russia about Abraham Lincoln, between February 15 and 20. (On the 20^th he was at the American Cultural Center in Moscow) “Why He Still Matters: A Bicentennial Conference on Lincoln.” On March 13, 2009 Bard College is hosted a day-long Lincoln Conference under the direction of Philip Kunhardt, which was open to the public and free of charge. Speakers for the day included Harold Holzer, co-chair of the U.S. Bicentennial Commission; Douglas Wilson, of Knox College, Illionois; and James Oakes of CUNY. The three sessions focused on Lincoln in American Memory; Lincoln and Words; and Lincoln and Emancipation. On February 12, Lincoln’s 200^th birthday, Philip Kunhardt sat for an hour long conversation with Minnesota Public Radio’s Kerri Miller. The entire interview can be found here . For snippets of recent reviews of Looking for Lincoln, click here. Looking for Lincoln was the subject of a five page article by Thomas Mallon in the October 13 issue of the New Yorker. Publishers Weekly has given Looking for Lincoln a starred review . The Journal News profiled Philip Kunhardt along with Harold Holzer, co-chair of the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Frank J. Williams, founder of the Lincoln Forum, recently had this to say: “The Kunhardt family has done it again with their latest tour de force—Looking for Lincoln. For five generations, the Kunhardts have been immersed in the study, writing, and collecting of Lincoln and Civil War era photographs and prints. While this book is chock full of iconography, it is not just a picture book—but a superlative narrative in text and illustrations that gives us a first-rate study of Abraham Lincoln in his bicentennial year.”