Young Lincoln of New Salem Gives Readers Opportunity To Know Abe Lincoln As His Closest Friends Knew Him

While most of us know of the life and death of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, we know very little about his younger years. In Young Lincoln of New Salem, Sam Rawlins paints a powerful picture of what life was like for young Lincoln – a man who could barely read or write when he arrived in New Salem at age 21, yet went on to become a lawyer, and later president.

Rawlins shares little-known facts about the love and sadness that consumed Lincoln in his early years, and motivated the rest of his life.

Recently released, this inspiring story follows the future president through six pivotal years on the rugged Illinois frontier, where Lincoln went from store clerk to postmaster to captain of militia in the Black Hawk War. And along the way, he entered into a life-altering romance with Ann Rutledge, and that heartbreaking relationship is explored in-depth here.

Rawlins’ quest to share an accurate depiction of a young Abe Lincoln took him to New Salem and the surrounding area. During decades of research, he pored over more than 150 written sources, including countless letters, interviews with first-party individuals and other
first-party eyewitness accounts.

The immersive story makes history come alive, giving readers a glimpse of Lincoln as his contemporaries saw him, providing a fresh understanding of this man and his remarkable life.

Sam Rawlins was raised in Oklahoma and Arkansas in the late 1940s and early 1950s. An immediate interest in history became an essential part of who he was, and from the age of 12, Rawlins became inspired by the life of Abraham Lincoln.

In the 1960s, after graduating from the Army Medical Training Center in San Antonio, Texas, Rawlins served as a medic in Southeast Asia. He was able to observe the destructive effects of PTSD in patients, in friends and in himself. These life-changing experiences inspired his first book, A Return to Meadow Wood, which tells the story of a Vietnam veteran who seeks healing from PTSD and closure to painful memories.

During the last 10 years, Rawlins experienced a near-death event and a subsequent faith-inspired episode, both of which not only matured him as a human being, but also strengthened him as a writer, leading to the inspirational quality that often threads its way through his work.

For more information, please visit www.samrawlins.com.