"Abraham Lincoln: a History — Volume 01" by John G. Nicolay and John Hay is a ten-volume biographical work published in 1890. Written by Lincoln's personal secretaries during the Civil War, this monumental account emerged from decades of exclusive access to the president's papers. The authors sought to counter what they saw as distorted portrayals of Lincoln's life and legacy. Their exhaustive research and insider perspective shaped how generations would remember the sixteenth president, transforming him into the iconic figure Americans know today. (This is an automatically generated summary.)