Booknotes: Abraham Lincoln on Screen, Third Edition

New Arrival:

• Abraham Lincoln on Screen, Third Edition: Live-Action Portrayals on Film and Television by Mark S. Reinhart (McFarland, 2024).

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most written about individuals in human history, and his presence on the home and theater screen is no less prodigious. From the description: "President Abraham Lincoln is the most frequently portrayed American historical figure in the history of the film and television arts, appearing onscreen as a character in more than 250 productions since the birth of the motion picture medium."

Of course, the popular fascination with Lincoln still continues to this day, with new film, streaming, and television content coming out on a regular basis. First published in 1999, with an updated expansion in 2009, this new third edition of Mark Reinhart's Abraham Lincoln on Screen "provides commentary on all new screen works produced in recent years, including Steven Spielberg's award-winning 2012 film Lincoln starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role."

The chapters in this reference guide, which covers the period from 1908 to today, are largely organized by decade. Information provided for each program includes title, director, cast list, release date, and running time. The accompanying text discusses "each work's historical accuracy and artistic merits." The amount of text coverage ranges from just a few paragraphs for the more obscure features to several pages for the more significant movies and television events. Still photos from the screen are also sprinkled about. Filling over 350 7"x10" pages, this is a very substantial reference compilation, arguably the IMDb of Lincoln.