Author looks for Lincoln in road trip-By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer

"Land of Lincoln" (Atlantic Monthly Press. 272 pages. $24) — Andrew Ferguson: Everyone knows about Abraham Lincoln: 16th president of the United States, saved the Union, freed the slaves. And, oh yes, war criminal, depressive, secular saint, homosexual and business management guru.
Not only is Lincoln one of the most looming figures in U.S. history, he likely has been analyzed and interpreted more than any other American. Thousands of books have been written about the man. Over generations, he has become sort of a national Rorschach blot. People see in him in different lights, depending on their point of view.
Ferguson, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, takes a look at what Lincoln means to Americans in the 21st century in this road-trip book. With stops in Gettysburg, Va., Beverly Hills, Calif., and a lot of places in between, Ferguson rubs shoulders with latter-day Confederates, collectors, historians, Lincoln look-alikes and buffs galore.
Like any road trip, some stretches are better than others. Especially fun is the Lincoln-themed business workshop where pre-Civil War America is translated into PowerPoint bullets ("USA as a fast-growth company") and a convention of Lincoln presenters, where a roomful of black-clad guys with beards and top hats earnestly trade tips on how to land school gigs.
Ferguson clearly has his own views on Lincoln. The author doesn't show much charity for the liberal crop of contemporary historians or museum types inspired by the Disney Co. He writes how designers of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., briefly considered a Lincoln roller-coaster.
"Lincoln had a lot of highs and lows in his life," the chief designer explains. "He was bipolar, right?"
Ferguson first fell in love with Lincoln when he was a boy, and the author's enduring esteem saves the book from being merely snarky or ironic. Particularly poignant is Ferguson's effort to re-create a childhood family trip among Midwest Lincoln landmarks with his own wife and kids. Every parent knows how that one turns out.
So who was the real Lincoln?
Ferguson wisely leaves the question aside as he focuses on other people's interpretations. By the book's end, the reader is left with the impression that this private, complex man is unknowable to us 142 years after his assassination — no matter how many books are written about him.