A while back, I saw a poll that stated that 45% of Americans thought the Civil War had been fought over states rights. 35% stated that it was about slavery. The rest is inconsequential. The fact is, they are both right. The Civil War was fought over one states right in particular: the right to own slaves. But I can't blame America for thinking the first option to be truer than the second, as that was the platform Abraham Lincoln was elected on. He didn't want to be considered an abolitionist. And this is a fact that this book does not shy away from. We see him wrestling with this very idea until he drafts the Emancipation Proclamation.

But set that aside for a moment. When you think of Honest Abe, what is the first thing to come to mind? The top hat? Sure. A tall, ugly man in daguerreotypes? Sure. An historical figure, maybe the greatest president ever? That's fair. But the man himself never comes to mind. You always get the textbook version of him. Even the movies give this idea of a man bigger than life and history.

But you never get the warts-and-all human being behind it all. For instance, ever see A Million Ways to Die in the West? There is a scene with Lincoln portrayed by Gilbert Gottfried. And the crazy thing is, his Lincoln was a lot closer to the real thing. Everyone now thinks he had a deep and resonating voice, and that's because that's how Henry Fonda played it way back when. Yeah, we all base our idea of Lincoln on Henry Fonda. In reality, Lincoln had a high chicken's voice.

In this book we find Lincoln usually sits in a chair with one leg over the arm. His nightshirt is too short, so everyone can see his chicken legs. He ruffles his hair constantly. He wanders the White House late at night because he can't sleep. And he's constantly constipated. Also he drinks opiates to help him sleep. Talk about warts-and-all!

But some of the warts are very uncomfortable. There is one scene in particular when he brings in the smartest free African Americans in the Union to discuss his plan for the abolition of slavery. He first wants to make sure that slave owners are well compensated for losing their slaves. Then he wants to move all slaves to Grenada, thinking that would solve the problem of racism in an age where African Americans are free and cannot be enslaved.

Yeah, if you're anything like me, you are recoiling and cringing at this ridiculously horrible idea, and when the freed men call him out on it, he genuinely has no idea why his plan is extraordinarily flawed. And in case you are wondering, that was, indeed, the real Lincoln's plan. I had to look it up to be sure. In fact, everything that happens in this book is fairly true to the history that we have.

Also, I got to know John Hay through Empire, which portrayed him as an aged misanthrope. Here he is portrayed as the young man who has dreams of grandeur and greatness. A man so young that he can't grow a beard, so he pastes one on so people will take him seriously. Also, here is a man who appreciates a good whiskey or three, and he frequents the local house of ill repute on a regular basis. It's kind of interesting to see both versions of Hay, who so far is my favorite character in this series of historical novels.

One more interesting point. In this book, Mary Lincoln constantly refers to the newspapers as "the vampire press." In this world of "fake news," I find it kind of interesting that some things never change.

Gore Vidal's "Lincoln" is the second book in his "Empire" series. Vidal uses his trademark exhaustive research and narrative wit to write a truly excellent book about a wily politician put into a nearly impossible situation-the Civil War.

"Lincoln" shows us the turmoil faced by the 16th President and how he had to balance radical abolitionists, secessionist Democrats, incompetent Generals, and the usual dross that seeks to claim the highest office in the land. Once again, a reader will be struck by the absolute foulness of the press, on both sides, and shows how inimical force the "media" has always been in American politics.

Gore shows how Lincoln's position gradually evolves, as well as his limited desires at the start of the conflict. Gore also shows us how the Rebel spies and John Wilkes Booth came to their plan (originally it was to kidnap Lincoln). Gore's Lincoln is very likable and highly intelligent. The same can not be said for the awful Mrs. Lincoln (Mary Todd) who is one of the most awful people I've run into.

Always interesting and full of information, Gore's prose brings to life these giants of American history. Never aggrandized, they are however shown to be amazing people who were able to shepherd the US throwing a very difficult and dangerous time.

I became obsessed with this book! Very rich. Wierd parallels with current happenings...

Some things to keep in mind about Lincoln by Gore Vidal (Modern Library): it is very heavy on the dialogue (which I didn’t mind), it is just as much about the side characters (Mary Todd, John Hay, Chase, Seward, etc.) as it is about Lincoln, there’s a sideshow about a Confederate drugstore clerk named David Herold obsessed with poisoning Lincoln that seemed a bit extraneous to me, Lincoln is referred to by many names (the Ancient, Tycoon, Father), and the politicking/military maneuvering can get somewhat dense but it’s never too much so.

The leitmotif in this novel is not the abolition of slavery but the principle so eloquently stated by Daniel Webster: “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!” Vidal’s Lincoln is laser-focused on preserving and, later, restoring the Union. In fact, Vidal makes a point of reminding the reader that Lincoln had never wanted slavery abolished, only restricted. Even after his Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in the rebel “mosquito-states” Lincoln did not believe that true equality between the two races could ever exist: “There are passions too deep for even a millennium to efface.” (566)
None of this, however, is to say that slavery is not or only a small part of the discussion. After all, it would not be a book about Lincoln without an exegesis of America’s original sin.

And this novel is unequivocally about Lincoln. Although other characters star prominently, the overwhelming presence palpable on every page is of the man who had been born in a log cabin in Kentucky, who had had to share a bed with five other lawyers in Illinois, who had lost a young child (Willie) in the White House, who had once written a poem called “Suicide” shortly before his wedding, who had resolved the question which not even the Founding Fathers had deigned to provoke.

Although technically fictional, Vidal had David Herbert Donald, a Lincoln biographer and historian, fact-check this work to read as historically accurate as possible. In many ways, this book is comparable to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals.”

Some Goodreads reviewers have called this the finest piece of historical (biographical) fiction. Maybe. But for me, that title still belongs to “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone. Either “I, Claudius” by Robert Graves or this one by Vidal would be my second choice.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be a moving paean to Lincoln’s last four years on earth.
Vidal had such a way with words.



Favorite quote is on page 1,034:

“Mr. Lincoln had a far greater and more difficult task than Washington’s. You see, the Southern states had every Constitutional right to go out of the Union. But Lincoln said, no. Lincoln said, this Union can never be broken. Now that was a terrible responsibility for one man to take. But he took it, knowing he would be obliged to fight the greatest war in human history, which he did, and which he won. So he not only put the Union back together again, but he made an entirely new country, and all of it in his own image.”

It makes sense that Vidal would be drawn to our most-articulate president. In this novel consisting mostly of clever dialogue, the writer brings Lincoln to life as he treats the reader to an insider's view of Washington's civil-war-era notables--from Treasurer Salmon Chase to actor John Wilkes Booth. I would have toned down the pontificating at the end, though: A final analysis of Lincoln as the "American Bismark" left me cold at best. I'll still read the rest of the series.

I would have liked to give this book a higher rating, but to me, Vidal seems to have greatly admired Lincoln, but he shows no real understanding of him as a human being. Lincoln was an enigma in many respects, and in a work of non-fiction that might be a more acceptible point of view. Here, in a substantial novel, it leaves the presentation with a hollow center. And it greatly subtracts from the drama of the events. I think George MacDonald Fraser managed to convey a more engaging character in his two or three scenes with Lincoln in Flash for Freedom than Vidal managed in his entire book. Give me Burr or 1876 any day.

I loved this book SO MUCH, I am sure my review will not do it justice. It shows a complex, nuanced version of Lincoln. It is not a book you can skim through, even though it is historical fiction - all the events and as much of the dialog that can be reconstructed from letters and speeches is accurate. And the dialog is magnificent! Lincoln comes off as the most interesting person in history, it is fascinating to feel you are a witness to history as you see him converse with his "team of rivals" and brilliantly orchestrate and implement a plan to save the Union. At one point his chief aide (and rival) William Seward is watching Lincoln calmly relate a folksy tale in response to a furious accusation from a "rival" and he thinks ( I paraphrase) "This man is either the most brilliant man I have ever known or a complete idiot.." And of course over time he comes to know that Lincoln was brilliant and perhaps the only man who could save the union despite the terrible cost that haunted him. Truly a magnificent book.

A fascinating examination in 650 closely-packed pages covering the critical period of Lincoln’s presidency from election in 1860 to his assassination and told through several eyes including his secretary Hays, several members of his cabinet, his half-insane wife Mary, plus the President himself. It’s full of the Machiavellian intrigues and the difficult political machinations of fighting a Civil War plus Lincoln’s own skill as an under-estimated and manipulative leader. It’s a very human and totally convincing portrait

This book started slow, but ended up being quite a lot of fun. Vidal brings the characters, and the time period, to life. Much of it is superficial, because there is so much going on. And one might quibble about just which events Vidal chose to directly describe and which to skip over. The perspective of Lincoln, so often from another character looking in, gives the novel a "West Wing" feeling.

I read this years before I joined Goodreads. I've always been and fan of Lincoln and so I tried and enjoyed this book. So long ago however, I do not recall specific details.

Ifyou are a fan of Gore Vidal, it is up to his usual standards.

I read this book twenty-five years ago and remembered it as unusual - so detailed historically and bold psychologically. A second reading confirmed both of these features. It is a real tour de force of historical imagination and reconstruction, written by a man with a very sure touch. In 650 pages there are almost no longueurs and, although Vidal clearly admired and respected his subject, no tendency to lionize or flatter.
Twenty-five years of our literary epoch is a long time and once or twice I found myself surprised by the formality of the storytelling in terms of order, pace and rhythm - surprised because there was nothing conventional about Vidal as man or journalist or essayist - also relieved that the story did not start at the end or jump to and fro in time, one of the inescapable devices of so-called modernism. I wondered at the end why the author didn't simply write it as history - which he was of course perfectly capable of doing.
There is a conclusion, given to the President's likeable young secretary, John Hay, on the last page of the book, who explains his reason for placing Lincoln as the greatest of presidents, above even Washington: 'Mr Lincoln had a far greater and more difficult task than Washington's. The Southern States had every Constitutional right to go out of the Union. But Lincoln said, no. Lincoln said, this Union can never be broken. Now that was a terrible responsibility for one man to take. But he took it, knowing he would be obliged to fight the greatest war in human history, which he did, and which he won. So he not only put the Union back together again, but he made an entirely new country, and all of it in his own image.'
One might quibble with the very last bit, but Vidal doesn't make it easy to do so.

Although this book was published in 1984 the audible version that I listen to was not completed until 2019. The author answers the question that probably everyone who reads this book will have: how much of this is true?

The author answers this question immediately in the afterword by indicating that the characters in the book did and said as it is presented in the book with a couple of exceptions which the author indicates. If this is true then it indeed makes the book quitestunning.

But this book does not really present itself As a typical history of 1860 through 1865. We are not dragged through the battles of the Civil War one more time. We are not faced with an in-depth congressional history of the era. This is a very personal and human story. We see and hear the people who are history but we see them when they are letting their guard down.

The two young men Who were the secretaries to President Lincoln play significant role in the book and we get to know them quite well. Speaking for myself I had not Heard of their roles until this book. I enjoyed getting to know them and to hear their insights about the people they worked around and for.

This book does not contain any surprises because most of us are very aware of the history. But we do discover somethings about the personalities. We have frequently heard about the cast of characters in the Lincoln cabinet but this book shines a light on some of them that may display their humanity in new ways.