Abraham Lincoln: The Enigmatic President

  The Myth of the Lost Cause: Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won By Edward H. Bonekemper III The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War by Thomas J. DiLorenzo This post deals with two books on the “Lost Cause.” Thomas J. DiLorenzo presents the case for the Lost Cause in The Real Lincoln : A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, while Edward H. Bonekemper argues against the Lost Cause in The Myth of the Lost Cause : Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won. What is the Lost Cause? The basic tenants are as follows: the War of Northern Aggression had nothing to do with slavery; the South did nothing to provoke war; the Constitution included a right to secede and the South should have been allowed to leave peacefully; antebellum life in the South was prosperous, dignified, and just; slavery was already dying; Robert E. Lee deserved deification, U. S. Grant deserved demonization, t...

  The Lincoln Myth by Steve Berry When writing a historical book, sometimes you need a recess from hard history. I thought The Lincoln Myth by Steve Berry would provide an appropriate break. Instead of relaxing, I found the book annoying. The Lincoln Myth interlaces Mormon history and a trendy premise about Abraham Lincoln into a modern-day thriller. The premise probably came from The Real Lincoln by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, a popular 2009 book that argued that the South had a right to secede and that the Civil War was unnecessary. DiLorenzo went further, stating that eliminating slavery was not a goal of the conflict and was only afterwards used as a justification. I believe this premise is an oversimplification. What drew me to the book was the intertwining of Lincoln and the Constitution's history throughout the story. I wrote my own Lincoln mystery/thriller ( The Shut Mouth Society ) and a novelization of the Constitutional Convention ( Tempest at Dawn ), so I found it jarr...

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 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 ...