{"product_id":"murder-on-the-mississippi-saladin-ambar-9798895150214","title":"Murder on the Mississippi: The Shocking Crimes That Shaped Abraham Lincoln","description":"\u003cb\u003eMurder, mob rule, and the making of Abraham Lincoln--the true story of three racially motivated murders in Mississippi River towns from 1835 to 1838 that crystalized the worldview of a twenty-something-year-old budding politician, inspiring the speech that put him on the national map--\"The Lyceum Address\"--condemning the violence and lawlessness spreading across the nation.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLynched: Five white gamblers suspected of aiding a slave insurrection in Vicksburg, Mississippi. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBurned alive: A Black man implicated in the death of a constable in St. Louis, Missouri. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGunned down: A white abolitionist in Alton, Illinois. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThese brutal Mississippi River murders between 1835 and 1838 weren't just acts of mob violence--they were warnings of a nation on the edge of collapse. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eMurder on the Mississippi\u003c\/i\u003e, award-winning historian Saladin Ambar unearths the horrors that shaped a young Abraham Lincoln's worldview, pushing him to find his political voice in one of the earliest and most pivotal speeches of his career--the Lyceum Address--in which we referenced each of these three crimes. Confronted by lawlessness, racial terror, and his own inner demons, Lincoln's battle was political, deeply personal, and reflective of a nation already at war with itself. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAmid a string of murders that shocked the American frontier, Lincoln faced the devastating loss of his first love, crippling debt, a dangerous brush with illness, and a descent into suicidal despair. Yet from this darkness, he emerged with a renewed purpose--one that would define his leadership in the fight for democracy, human freedom, and the rule of law. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough gripping storytelling and meticulous research, \u003ci\u003eMurder on the Mississippi\u003c\/i\u003e sheds new light on Lincoln's transformation from a struggling young legislator to a man ultimately willing to risk everything to save a nation from itself. The forces that shaped him then--violence, division, and the specter of tyranny--are forces we still reckon with today. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is not just a story of Abraham Lincoln. It is a story of America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Saladin Ambar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798895150214\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Diversion Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/07\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.06lbs","brand":"Saladin Ambar","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46962811535615,"sku":"9798895150214","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_15314a12-ca38-4b4d-ac9f-0f57de663f6d.jpg?v=1750652605","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/murder-on-the-mississippi-saladin-ambar-9798895150214","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}