Abraham Lincoln: The Enigmatic President

During the Civil War, politicians claimed the conflict was about issues other than slavery. Jefferson Davis adamantly denied that slavery caused the war, arguing that the dispute was about states’ rights. However, as Lincoln noted in his First Inaugural Address, the only state right truly in question was slavery. Not that Yankee politicians were more forthright. In the early years of the war, Lincoln said he was fighting solely to restore the Union. Since then, most books by participants and historians have downplayed slavery as the primary cause of the conflict. During and after the Constitutional Convention, slaveholding states threatened to secede if they did not get their way. With a few interludes, slaveholders or slave tolerant politicians controlled the national government from its inception. The slave states had grown accustomed to their dominance, but a new party emerged that threatened their “peculiar institution.” With the election of the first Republican President, the slav...

Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were fascinating figures—precisely the kind of characters a novelist needs to carry a story. Both presidents had strong personalities, enormous drive, and inner confidence. They were also strikingly different people. Perfect for storytelling. In Maelstrom , I strived to give Lincoln and Davis equal billing. I got the idea from the 1979 novel, Kane and Abel , by Jeffrey Archer. There are always two sides to a story, and Archer did a masterful job of alternating chapters between characters to present the alternative perspectives. The idea intrigued me, and I used it in Tempest at Dawn , my dramatization of the Constitutional Convention. Although it requires extensive preplanning of chapters, it is an excellent technique for presenting opposing views. There are no more strident opposing views than in a civil war. In Maelstrom , I alternate chapters between Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, allowing the two narratives to show how each dealt with the s...

  In my book, Maelstrom , I included a scene in which Lincoln sends an address to Congress after a recess. At that time, it was customary for a clerk to read the address aloud. Not much had happened during the recess: eleven states had seceded from the Union, Fort Sumter had been bombarded and surrendered, the Union occupied a small area of Virginia, Lincoln had exceeded his executive powers by spending unauthorized money, building an army, arresting insurgents, and suspending habeas corpus, among many other actions. He desperately needed Congress to backfill behind him. Lincoln’s first formal communication with Congress was crucial—not just for him but for the country as well. Although this address is not one of his most famous speeches, the clarity and simplicity with which he explained his actions were impressive.   Lincoln stated that the struggle was to maintain a form of government: “whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men—to lift artificial weigh...

Killing Lincoln  was better than I expected. The breathless style at the beginning was a bit off-putting, but it settled down to a clean narrative. This novel was a fun read because  Maelstrom  ends when Lincoln leaves for Ford's Theatre, which meant I took no notes and let myself get absorbed in the story. Some historians have criticized the accuracy of  KillingLincoln . I disagree. The book does not purport to be an academic treatment and appears accurate in its description of relevant events and details. My only serious concern is that O’Reilly and Dugard included asides that Secretary of War Edwin Stanton might have had a hand in the intrigue. I find Stanton’s involvement dubious and the inclusion unnecessary. It may surprise many to discover the extent of the conspiracy, which went beyond Lincoln to include attempted assassinations of the vice president and secretary of state. Bad people do conspire to do bad things.  There are so many Lincoln books t...

I last read  The Killer Angels  four decades ago. I liked it the first time, but really grew to appreciate it with this reading. Great story, well written, and enlightening. My project,  Maelstrom , is also a historical novel that alternates between Union and Confederate viewpoints, so I appreciated the difficulty of portraying events in an entertaining manner while remaining historically accurate.  The advantage of historical novelizations is that they can bring characters to life and make readers feel as if they were present when events unfold. Novels are first and foremost stories, and stories must move. History has a way of unfolding in a haphazard fashion, hindering storytelling. The difficulty is maintaining a good pace while remaining faithful to the historical presentation. In this reading, I could lift myself above the story and admire the craft. Sharra does an excellent job and deserved the Pulitzer Prize he won for  The Killer Angels .

I’m not a Gore Vidal fan. I thought  Burr  was a hash, especially from a historical perspective.  Lincoln   is a better novel, though still blemished, primarily because of Vidal’s penchant for showing off. A novel is a story, and the cardinal rule of storytelling is to never jerk the reader out of the story. Yet, Vidal continuously interrupts his characters mid-scene to take a bow, with witty asides, overly clever dialogue, and meaningless period gossip. Vidal also focuses on the trivial when the reader yearns for the big picture. The absence of transitions is jarring. Vidal goes from one scene to another with a different cast of characters without even a “by your leave.” It's like, “Hey, I veered off over here, catch up or I’ll leave you behind.” And you do … but it takes rereading several sentences, and poof, the magic is gone. The book is titled  Lincoln , but Ol’ Abe comes across as a side character, explained by countless others who surround the supposed pr...

I wrote The Shut Mouth Society , so this is a description plus critiques from other reviewers. This modern-day thriller is a typical chase novel à la Robert Ludlum . The Ludlum formula for this genre involves a man and woman with an “odd meet” (rather than a “cute meet”).  The couple is accused of a crime and then chased by good guys and bad guys until they save themselves by unraveling a mystery that threatens the social order. In The Shut Mouth Society , the mystery is a secret society formed after the Civil War that threatens to take control of Mexico. A chase is launched when a small-town police Commander and a renowned professor assess the validity of a pre-presidential document in Lincoln's hand. Abe Lincoln is interwoven throughout the story as they must examine his life and motivations to solve the mystery. The Shut Mouth Society is a work of fiction, but I did extensive research on Lincoln to craft an exciting, historically accurate story. The novel was a finalist in ...