Mike, I am right there with you... been waiting for this one since... jeez, when did Spielberg first get the rights? 2000? 2001? My absolute favorite director (my entire life I wanted to be him... in fact, Tisch at NYU was my #1 college choice until the age of maybe 16) and my absolute favorite subject.
That said... I am a bit sad about the focus of it. I had really hoped for a good, standard biographical piece, one that would address his youth, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and for me more important the damn war itself! I have to admit, if someone said "There is a 12 hour Lincoln movie. Think "Saving Private Ryan" but in the Civil War and with more talking and politics" I would literally pee myself with excitement. I want to see Lee, Jackson, Stuart, Grant, Sherman, McClellan! I want to see a modern film that shows the first shot at Sumter, the civilians trampled at Bull Run, the Irish marching on the Sunken Lane at Antietam, Pickett leading his men across the Emmitsburg Pike, the Crater at Petersburg... So I am SO very sad to hear that there is just about no actual depiction of the war itself. That almost squashes my fervor. Almost.
That said... can't wait. A history lesson? Sounds great!