Writer, journalist, and former Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal

Contentious campaigning has always been a facet of US politics, and no one knows that better than Sidney Blumenthal. Journalist, author, and former senior advisor to President Bill Clinton, Blumenthal has seen it all up close. But his latest book, Wrestling With His Angel: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, takes a long look back through history in order to highlight the savvy decisions that catapulted Lincoln into the nation's spotlight.