As we examine Abraham Lincoln’s life and times, we consider the man, both myths and truths. The focus of this seminar, America’s 16th president, provides a portal through which to consider United States society and history. This seminar provides an introduction to comparative social history, written by an historian and lifelong Lincoln admirer. It uses broad cultural and geographic diffusion of American values and traditions over time to examine diverse and changing social, economic, and political meanings of the world’s then-newest democracy. Examining different cultural settings and emphasizing the ways in which a single individual may alter history provides both challenge and quandary. Although America’s antebellum years, then Civil War and Reconstruction eras demand attention as the most striking examples of Lincoln’s pervasive impact, the seminar will consider Lincoln as a global phenomenon, exploring his impact in some European and African societies, for example. As an introduction, the seminar will confine itself to English language texts, but it will use a wide range of primary sources, including newspapers and journals, memoirs, correspondence, promotional materials, and photographs to introduce students to basic concepts of historical method and problems of evidence. Students will be encouraged to consider Abraham Lincoln’s impact in particular historical contexts as a ‘cultural process’, from the manner of his nature through his adaption into the White House to the emergence of his distinctive proprietary and patriotic attitudes. Among the many topics absorbed, this seminar will return periodically to questions of American divisions and US inclusive aspirations, race and class relations, and the emergence and sustainability of a free labor market economy. Students’ assignments will require a combination of reading, writing, and research skills, and the seminar will utilize through readings and discussion–the variety of academic materials available for the study of this vital subject.