This is the year of Lincoln. We are celebrating his birthday with more pomp than in any year I've seen, and I remember back to when he had a day of his own in February. None of this plural Presidents Day stuff in those times. And this celebration recalls those days. In this commemorative year The Essential Lincoln is a wonderful way to honor Lincoln's memory and to get a new appreciation for why we want to.

This is a book to have and to hold. To feel. To put on your coffee table. To give to a friend who loves history. Even to give to an older child who may find it a treasure on his book shelf in later years.

It is published by a division of one of the US's most venerable publishers, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A book of Lincoln's selected speeches, it is a small hardback, with an appropriately patriotic cover but not too, too (it is dark blue, cream, and maroon rather than screaming red, white, and blue). It includes a maroon satin bookmark and the speeches chosen for publication by the editor Orville Vernon Burton are just right to fill out Lincoln's essential history, to set the stage for it, and to clarify. There are brief introductions at the beginning of each of the speeches, too.

The editing is thoughtful. Burton chose to correct spelling and punctuation for the modern reader and to very delicately update the language (or edit portions out) when needed. The speeches are chosen to showcase Lincoln's career and his times while letting us get a firm hold on his exquisite writing style. Lincoln used Jeffersonian parallelism as well as Jefferson himself. His analytical skills allow him to perfectly make a point. No wonder he is a favorite of this president, some 200 years later.

This, then, is a book for your nightstand. Read it one speech at a time and savor. Then file it into your bookcase or your safe deposit box and buy another for lending or giving.