Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, Available for Pre-Order

The book is available for pre-order on the Rowman & Littlefield website (Lyons Press is a trade imprint of Rowman). You can also pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). Release date is scheduled for September 1, 2022.

My forthcoming book has a cover design, a pre-order form on Amazon, a “want to read” listing on Goodreads, and a scheduled release date.

The full title is Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America. 

But let’s just call it The Fire of Genius.

The title comes from a somewhat obscure science lecture that Lincoln delivered several times in 1858. Moderately attended, the lecture was not exactly his best oratory work, but it ended on the following line:

The patent system…secured to the inventor, for a limited time, the exclusive use of his invention; and thereby added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things.

Readers will learn through The Fire of Genius how science and technology gradually infiltrated Lincoln’s remarkable life and influenced his growing desire to improve the condition of all men. The book traces this progression from a simple farm boy to a president who changed the world.

I’m excited about the pending release of this book not just because it’s another book I’ve written, but because it blends my two lifelong passions of science and Abraham Lincoln. Growing up on the coast led me to a career that began in marine biology and meandered into environmental consulting. Science was my occupation, but Lincoln was always a side gig. That changed ten years ago when I left my science career and began pursuing in earnest a life of Lincoln. I’ve been researching this particular book for a long time. Way back in 2012, it was a primordial idea for this book that I pitched to an agent at a writing conference. That led to an immediate opportunity to write a book on Nikola Tesla, then Thomas Edison, then a general biography on Abraham Lincoln. While writing all of those (and two specialty e-books), I refined the original concept into its present form. Finally, The Fire of Genius is coming to bookstores near you.

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!