Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months that Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War is a book by Todd Brewster, an American author, academic, journalist, and film producer.

[2] During this time Lincoln struggled with his strategy for the war, quarreled with his cabinet, and wrestled with how best to free the slaves.

[6]Brewster's quest led him to focus on the six months between July 1862 and January 1863, which "served as a neatly contained episode of Lincoln’s life in that they framed the time when he first mentioned the Proclamation and the date when he actually signed the document.

"[11] Describing the central argument of the book, Brewster wrote: Emancipation was not a simple decision for Lincoln and in the end it could have gone either way.

A lifelong opponent of slavery, he was a pessimist about the ability for blacks and whites to live together in harmony in a post-slavery world.

He was caught in a contradiction: at once believing that God controlled the fate of the nation yet still needing to act as if what he did mattered.

[13][14][15][16] Publishers Weekly praised the way "Brewster brings elegant clarity to the tangle of conflicting ideologies, loyalties, and practicalities that pushed the proclamation forward, ultimately ensuring Lincoln’s legacy as the Great Emancipator.

But in this wonderful study, Todd Brewster authoritatively evokes the strategy of our best president to change the terms of the Civil War and thereby the destiny of his nation.

McMaster, the American military historian who wrote Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam, commented: Readers of this expertly-told tale may note parallels to other times in American history when the lack of a clear mission hampered war efforts.

Yet this, finally, is a story of courage and leadership, a stirring account of how Lincoln, perhaps our greatest warrior-president, took firm control of the war, gave clear direction to his generals and, with his historic proclamation, established a purpose worthy of the sacrifices so many made in that epic American ordeal.