Abraham Lincoln's Wilderness Years: Collected Works of J. Edward Murr

"Claybourn has made Murr's essays into a handy new primary source for Lincoln studies?indeed, for all of early Indiana life. This book places Murr on par with Ida Tarbell, Jesse Weik, Walter Stevens, and Harvey Smith of that invaluable generation who collected original testimony that Herndon and others had missed. The liveliness of the recollections of the settlers Murr found will sustain our interest on each page, and for a long time to come. Bravo to Joshua Claybourn for resurrecting this information."?James M. Cornelius, Editor, Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association

"A few 19th century Lincoln biographers spent a day or two visiting the area and people of Lincoln's Indiana youth. Rev. J. Edward Murr, a Lincoln enthusiast, served as minister in the region from 1897-1902 and thus became acquainted with the residents and culture. Although Abraham Lincoln left Indiana some 67 years before Murr arrived, there were still a small number of Lincoln's friends who shared their memories of Lincoln with Murr. While some of these memories may be questionable, Joshua Claybourn provides the context for the reader to evaluate Murr's work, much of which is published for the first time in this volume."?William E. Bartelt, author of There I Grew Up: Remembering Abraham Lincoln's Indiana Youth