If you’re anything like me, you probably scroll through Netflix for an hour before settling on something you’ve already seen a hundred times. But today amidst the wonderful rain, I stumbled upon the 2022 History Channel docuseries Abraham Lincoln that Netflix recently dropped on their platform. Let me save you the scrolling time: you need to watch this immediately. I ended up binge watching it, lol. Does that make me a nerd? 🤓
Executive produced by the legendary historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, this three-part miniseries attempts to compress the life of America’s 16th—and arguably most famous—president into just over five hours of television. I went in expecting a dry, textbook-style recap of the Civil War. What I got instead was a fucking amazing, cinematic deep-dive into the life of a wildly complex human being.
Here is why this series completely blew me away.
The Format: Not Your Middle School History Video
The miniseries is split into three feature-length chapters:
The Railsplitter: Tracing his dirt-poor roots, his obsessive self-education, and his scrappy entry into law and politics.
A President at War: Watching him get thrown right into the deep end of the Civil War and the agonizing learning curve of becoming a wartime commander-in-chief.
Saving the Union: The bloody, brutal final years of the war, the drafting of the Emancipation Proclamation, and his tragic, untimely death.
Forget the boring, static documentaries of the past. This series uses a documentary-drama hybrid format. It weaves interviews with top-tier historians and journalists right into massive, high-budget, cinematic reenactments. You aren’t just hearing about history; you are watching it play out like a premium HBO drama.
Why It’s Absolute Top-Tier Television
Graham Sibley is Incredible: It cannot be easy to play a guy who is literally carved into a 19-foot marble statue in Washington, D.C. But Graham Sibley steps into the role of Lincoln and absolutely kills it. He doesn’t play him like a god; he plays him like a man. Sibley captures his deep depression, his weird, folksy sense of humor, and his razor-sharp political genius. You actually feel the weight of the world crushing him, and it’s mesmerizing.
The Historians Bring the Fire: The commentary is what glues this whole masterpiece together. Doris Kearns Goodwin (whose book Leadership: In Turbulent Times is the backbone of the series) and the other historians don’t just rattle off dates and facts. They explain the intense psychology behind Lincoln’s choices. They break down the unbelievable pressure he faced from a fractured cabinet, a country tearing itself apart, and the devastating loss of his own children. It makes you realize how miraculous it is that he held it together at all. And did I mention Barack Obama is involved in this production . . . he’s amazing!
Movie-Quality Production: The costume design, the muddy, visceral battlefield scenes, the dimly lit oval office—the production value is insane. It genuinely looks and feels like a blockbuster movie.
Any Downsides?
The Transition Whiplash: The only minor gripe I have is that the docu-drama format can be a little jarring. You’ll be super invested in a beautifully acted, highly emotional scene between Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd, and then suddenly—bam—hard cut to a historian sitting in a modern studio. It breaks the immersion for a second, but honestly, the insight they provide is so good that you forgive it almost instantly.
The Hits Album: If you have a PhD in Civil War history, you might not learn anything groundbreaking. It sticks pretty closely to the established facts. But for the rest of us? It’s the ultimate, perfectly paced consolidation of his life.
The Final Verdict
I cannot recommend this enough. The Abraham Lincoln miniseries is a masterclass in how to make history feel urgent, emotional, and intensely relevant. It strips away the myth and shows you a deeply flawed, fiercely intelligent, and relentlessly resilient guy trying to navigate the worst crisis in American history.
Rating: 5/5 Star
The Bottom Line: Stream it right now. It is a brilliant, inspiring, and completely gripping watch.
Reel Review Mom 
Leave a comment