One hundred fifty years ago, the United States lost its greatest leader. In this commemorative volume, LIFE recounts the life. Our narrative was written by the award-winning Allen C. Guelzo, author of Gettysburg, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. leads us into this stirring story with his moving foreword. Then there are the pictures: photographs, many of them rarely seen, of Lincoln, the Civil War-his life and times. History come alive, as only LIFE presents it.